Amnesty
by KeepingSchtum
Summary: Naomi Campbell is a recent university graduate who has no job and no clue where her life is headed. She catches the eye of a redheaded siren at a club one night, and happens upon her by chance at the same club later that week. But Naomi should be careful. This redhead is the catalyst in a chain of events that will turn her life upside down.
1. Part 1: Prologue and Chapter 1

_****_**Author's Note: Okay, so this isn't exactly going according to plan. You see, I was planning on posting a chapter of As It Was Made To Be every day during the month of December. The problem is that writing for AIWMTB is excruciatingly painful and everything I type is utter crap and I can't possibly post anything I've written. I've re-started the next chapter about 7 times at this point and it's just not working. **

**So I've decided to post the first chapter of my next story, Amnesty. It is very different from anything I've ever written before, so please keep that in mind. This is not going to be a fluff-fest like AIWMTB, which is going to be obvious from the prologue. I hope you'll give this a chance because I'm very excited about it and hopefully you will be, too.**

**WARNING: The prologue includes scenes of violence, though it is not described in a gruesome manner. The chapter also includes scenes of a smutty nature, so please take that into account as well.**

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_**Amnesty**_

_Prologue_

She was walking down a dimly lit side street late one night. It had been the day of the Pride Parade, though she didn't see much of it. She worked the whole day, only stopping momentarily to watch a float pass by the cafe she worked in before returning to her job. She went to a bar after work to catch up with some old acquaintances, and after a long night of conversation she found herself slightly tipsy and walking home. It was not too late and the area was not especially well known for violence. She wasn't dressed provocatively and didn't look out of the ordinary in any way.

She did not notice that she was being followed by two people, one man and one woman. They had watched her in the bar, watched her associate with people who had been at the Parade, who celebrated homosexual abomination. She, too, must have been what was commonly referred to as an "ally" if she wasn't an abomination herself. The man nodded towards his female companion and they both picked up their pace, eager to take advantage of the dim lighting of the alleyway to surprise their victim. They walked towards her as silently as possible, and when they reached her they forced her down onto the ground and began to beat her. The victim did not scream nor make any effort to fight back – she was in shock. She didn't realize what was happening quickly enough to defend herself. So she took the beating they dealt her in silence, and was left laying in the alleyway bleeding and wondering what she'd done to provoke the attack. They hadn't mugged her or even stolen her cell phone.

She couldn't understand what she'd done to deserve the split lip, black eye, and cracked ribs. The man and woman didn't stick around to explain themselves, nor did they utter a single word while they were beating her. She didn't have a single clue as to what she'd done to deserve that beating in Sofia that night.

_Part One: Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion_

_Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance._

_Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights_

The loud house music of a club floated through the walls of the women's toilets, where I was busy fucking yet another nameless woman. I used the beat of the bass to set the rhythm as I fucked her, pumping my fingers into her, then sliding out and working over her clit. Her moans reverberated in my ear as she gripped my shoulders and pulled me even closer to her.

"Fuck...oh, right there," the woman whimpered. I curled my fingers and pressed my thumb against her clit, and a few short moments later I felt her walls clamp down on me. I repressed the urge to cringe as the woman bit down on my neck and sucked, obviously trying to mark me. But I didn't want to be marked. I was nobody's and never would belong to anybody.

As soon as the nameless brunette finished coming, I pulled my fingers out, turned around and left the toilets. It was just another shag – no reason to stick around. Not like I wanted the girl's number. Definitely not. I'd succeeded tonight. I pulled. I walked through the club, a smirk on my face as I approached the bar and ordered one last drink.

"Jack and coke, mate," I said to the bartender, who served me immediately. I passed him a ten pound note and turned around, leaning against the bar to watch the pulsating bodies on the dance floor. Fiery bright red hair in the centre of the crowd called out to me. She was dancing with a tall, dark-skinned, brunette woman who completely eclipsed the petite redhead. They looked like a bit of an odd couple. The redhead caught my eye, her dark brown gaze luring me in. She raised her eyebrow, smiling a sultry half-smile at me. She winked at me. Maybe they weren't a couple after all. I raised my glass to her and finished my drink off, placing the glass on the bar and turning to leave the club. I fought the urge to turn around and go find the redhead and maybe make it two-for-two tonight. It wasn't rare for me to pull two girls in one night. Not lately, at least.

"Naomi," A quiet voice called out to me. I turned to see a brunette, dressed in a short black skirt, fishnets, combat boots, and a tank top, standing outside the club. _Effy._ I pushed the thoughts of the sultry redhead out of my mind as I walked over to join the brunette.

"You owe me a fiver," I muttered to the waif-like girl, who was leaning against the brick wall of the club. She smiled and took a long drag from her cigarette. I reached into my own pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, grabbing the brunette's cigarette and using the lit end of her cigarette to light my cigarette.

"You pulled then," Effy said as she reached into her bra and pulled out a five pound note, a cloud of smoke forming around us as we spoke. Effy and I would often bet on who would be able to pull on a night out and lately, I'd been winning most of those bets. She handed the money to me, and I put the fiver in my pocket. "Any good?"

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

"Oh, yes, Effy, my random shag in the toilets of a shitty club was just _wonderful_. The girl didn't even offer to do anything for me. Total pillow princess...err...wall princess."

Effy laughed. She pushed herself off the brick wall and started walking back towards our apartment. I followed. The streets of London were surprisingly empty for a late Friday night.

Our apartment, which was in Islington, was a bit of a mess at the moment. Effy and I had both recently graduated university and it was the first time we were getting our own apartment together. We were roommates all throughout university, but that was only in a tiny dorm room. Needless to say, we hardly had any furniture and hardly any money. The flat was small and we were sleeping on mattresses on the floor and had no proper furniture at all, but it was okay for now. We had internet and we each had our own laptops and we had enough food to get by. That was all we really needed. It was a two bedroom flat, but there wasn't a living room. The only other rooms were a kitchen and a bathroom. But we didn't need more than that, really.

Effy had managed to find a job working for a security firm, though she refused to tell me exactly what she did there and I'd stopped asking. She said the pay wasn't great at the moment, but she was sure it would improve as soon as she paid her dues.

I still didn't have a job. It'd been two months since I graduated and my savings were running very thin. I could barely afford a pack of spaghetti. I just couldn't find a job I actually liked or saw myself committing to. I'd studied equity studies, politics, and law in university. I'd actually planned on going to graduate school and becoming a lawyer but my student debts were starting to add up and my fear of being in debt for the rest of my life kept me from pursuing law school. So, I graduated and planned on saving some money and paying off my debts and then maybe going back to school. The only problem was that it was difficult to find any kind of job in this economy, let alone a job I actually liked and paid well.

Effy wordlessly went into her room and shut the door, and I went into my own room and shut the door. I briefly looked in my mirror and noticed the beginnings of a small hickey on my neck. I rolled my eyes, reminded of that meaningless shag with that nameless woman. That was why I hated when people gave me hickeys – I didn't want to be reminded of my time with you if I couldn't even remember your name.

I grabbed my laptop and opened up a recent job search page. Earlier on that day, I'd found an online ad for a job that I was quite interested in, though I had no experience that the job required. It was a PA job, working for some big-shot at Amnesty International. It may be an easy way to get my foot in the door, so to speak, since Amnesty International would be a great place to work and I'd be able to actually apply the things I'd studied in school. I decided to take a risk and apply for the job, submitting my resume. I could be a PA. Be someone's bitch, pick up their dry cleaning, pick up their lunch, schedule their meetings and trips. I could do that... I think.

"Fuck it," I mumbled as I clicked send.

The worst that could happen was they said no and I kept looking for a job. I took risks in every other aspect of my life, so I might as well start taking risks with my career choices.

My hands moved across her stomach, pulling her closer into me. Her back was pressed up against my chest. I pushed my leg between hers, earning a low moan for my efforts, as my hands moved slowly up her stomach and traced over her ribs. I could feel each of her erratic breaths as she pushed her ass into me and ground against me to match the beat of the music blasting throughout the club. I was just drunk enough to feel completely numb, but still control my movements enough to dance. I pushed the girl's dark brown hair over her shoulder so I could lean into her and kiss her neck. She smelled fucking amazing. And from this angle, I got a better view of her tits.

But I couldn't help but feel slightly distracted, as though someone was watching me. My eyes slipped away from the girl's cleavage as I scanned the crowd, not sure who I was looking for until I saw her.

The redhead.

Tonight, she was alone. She was dancing slowly in the midst of the crowd and watching me with a smirk on her face. She winked at me again and curled her finger at me, beckoning me towards her. I wasn't the only one watching her. A few men around her were watching her carefully, some even trying to dance with her. She'd give them a single look and they'd fuck off. I'd completely forgotten about the all too willing brunette I was still dancing with. I abandoned her just as my hand was half-way to her tits, and found myself walking towards the redheaded siren. Her smirk widened when she saw that I'd abandoned my conquest and had chosen to be with her instead.

"Can I buy you a drink?" I asked once I reached her. She bit her lip, gave a quick glance around the club, and nodded. I grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the bar, not prepared to lose her in the crowd now that I'd finally found her again. She was just too hot to lose.

"Stella for me, mate, and for the lady...?" I trailed off, gesturing to Emily. She ordered a Stella for herself as well. The bartender passed us the bottles of beer and we leaned against the bar, neither of us seeming too eager to return to the dance floor right now.

"I'm Emily," the redhead said. "And you are?"

"Naomi," I replied.

"Do you do this often, Naomi? Hook up with random girls in clubs and bars?"

I shrugged. "Occasionally."

"Good enough for me," Emily mumbled and quickly drank the rest of her beer, putting the empty bottle back on the bar. She looked to me expectantly.

"Drink up, then."

I did as she said and finished my beer before she dragged me back out to the dance floor. From that moment onward, we didn't say a single word. Maybe it was because the way Emily was grinding her ass against me was slightly distracting. Maybe it was because the way she pulled me into her and pressed us even closer together was turning me on so much that I was no longer capable of forming words. She turned around and faced me as we danced together, dancing so closely our chests and hips were touching almost constantly. She looked up at me with her dark brown eyes that seemed even darker than they had a moment ago, her pupils dilated so fully you could barely see any brown in her eyes at all anymore. Her hands tangled in my shoulder-length, peroxide blonde hair as she pulled my head down closer to hers. Her lips ghosted across my cheek and rested gently against my ear.

"I want you to fuck me tonight, Naomi," she whispered, her lips moving against the skin of my earlobe. "I want to be very clear about that."

For the first time in quite a long time, I felt something significantly more than mere attraction to someone, something more than just wanting a quick shag, just a quick release. I felt turned on. It was rare that anybody could really make me feel turned on, rare that I even got wet while I was shagging someone, but I already felt dampness between my legs just from dancing with her. With all the other girls it'd all been the same, but something about Emily was mysterious and different and _I wanted all of her._ I'd even remembered this girl's name for fuck's sake,which was rare in itself, and she had bothered to remember mine. _Emily._ I planned on screaming that name later, and making her scream mine.

My knees almost gave out from underneath me at Emily's husked whisper, and my heart started beating at least double its normal speed. My mouth became dry and my stomach filled with anxiety and butterflies as I pulled slightly back to gain access to Emily's lips. Why was I nervous? I did this sort of thing all the time! I knew I was good, and I had no doubt that Emily would be too. And yet, I felt nervous. My lips moved tentatively against hers, so tentatively that they were barely touching because I knew from the moment I kissed her, that was it. From the moment I kissed her, I wouldn't be able to stop until I was fucking her. And if kissing her would make me feel like I never wanted to stop, then fucking her would be even worse. Fear and nerves bubbled up inside me as I felt Emily's mouth open slightly. I felt her tongue trace against my lips, though my body acted of its own accord when my own lips opened further and allowed her into my mouth. Her tongue moved languidly against mine, relaxed and easy whereas I felt tense and nervous, though I was hoping it wouldn't show in my kiss. My arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her ever closer towards me as our bodies and mouths moved together on the dance floor. I knew there was no going back from this point. There was no way I could back off and _not _fuck her tonight. Emily's kiss slowly shifted from easy and relaxed to frantic and I knew it wouldn't be long till we had to relocate. I didn't want to fuck Emily in the toilets. I wanted to fuck her in a bed, good and proper. For some odd reason, Emily was bringing out the gentlemanly side in me. Emily's hands untangled themselves from my hair and moved down my back, her hands slipping under and into my shirt. Her fingers splayed against my skin and moved slowly forward until they were on my ribs, and then slowly moved towards my breasts. Her hand cupped my breast and groped at me while her thumb flicked against my nipple through the thin, sheer material of my bra. I moaned into her kiss, and her lips abandoned mine and moved instead to my neck and collarbone.

"Let's go back to mine," she whispered against my skin. "It's not far."

I nodded my reply as Emily grabbed my hand and moved us off the dance floor and out of the club. My flat wasn't far either, but I didn't want to fuck Emily at my place. My almost-empty flat that I shared with my slightly odd best friend was not the most ideal place for me to fuck Emily. I didn't want her to see that side of me. The less she knew about me, the better. Her hand never abandoned mine on the short journey to her flat, that was actually only a two minute walk away from my own flat.

As soon as we got into the lift at her apartment building, Emily had me pressed up against the mirrored elevator wall. She grabbed my hands and lifted them over my head, pinning them above me as her lips pressed open-mouthed kisses to my neck, collarbone, shoulders, chest. I wasn't used to this – wasn't used to being topped. I was much more used to being a top, but I found it was a rather nice change to be a bottom. The elevator dinged and Emily's lips left my skin and I found myself being dragged to Emily's apartment. She fiddled with her keys, her hands shaky and unsure as she put the key in the lock. She didn't turn on any lights when we got in the apartment and as soon as her front door closed behind me, her lips were on mine. She wasted no time in deepening our kiss, her tongue moving into my mouth right away. I tried to stifle my moan, but it was no use. I moaned into our kiss like a horny teenager. Her fingers tugged through my hair, eliciting another moan as she moved us to her bedroom. We crashed into multiple things on the way, though Emily paid no notice. As soon as we got into her bedroom, I broke apart our kiss and placed my hand in the centre of her stomach. I smiled at her, feeling momentarily confident as I pushed her backwards until her knees hit the mattress. I pushed her onto the bed. I took off my shoes and socks before joining her. I kissed her thoroughly, dominating our movements for the first time since I'd met Emily. I grabbed her wrists and pulled them above her head, this time pinning _her_ to the bed. She moaned as I placed wet, open-mouthed kisses to her collarbone. I went to kiss and suck at her neck, hoping to mark her, but Emily interrupted my movements.

"No," she whispered breathlessly. "No hickeys. No marks."

I thought the request was a bit odd but I did as she asked and didn't mark her. I moved us so we were sitting up. I was sat on her lap, trying desperately not to rock against her, to create some friction to relieve the throbbing between my legs. I swiftly took off Emily's shirt as she did the same to me and removed my bra. I ground against her once, making Emily moan as I pushed her back down against the bed. My hands deftly unhooked her bra and moved the straps off her shoulders, throwing her bra somewhere in the room. My lips abandoned hers and moved down to her breasts, licking and sucking at the hard nipples I found waiting for my touch. Emily was moaning and writhing underneath me, seeking some kind of friction. Her frantic movements spurred me on as my lips abandoned her breasts and moved farther down her stomach. Her skin was forming goosebumps underneath my lips, my ragged breathing against her quivering stomach. My hands began to work on the zipper of her jeans. Things were becoming intense and rushed, and I felt I had no time to waste, so I took her jeans and panties off at the same time before quickly removing my own. I was dying to feel my naked skin against Emily's naked skin, to feel my breasts against hers, to match my own ragged breaths with hers as she came under me.

I moved back up Emily's body, our lips reconnecting and tongues moving against each other. Our kiss was breathy and messy, both of us worked up to a point of no return. Emily's hands grabbed at my ass, pushing my hips down to meet hers, to give some kind of contact, some kind of friction to both of us. My hands grabbed and squeezed at her breasts before moving downwards, tracing up the inside of her damp thigh before burying my fingers in her wet folds. She was so wet my fingers were slipping against her sloppily. I buried my face into her neck and moaned when I remembered that she was that wet for _me_, that I'd made her that wet. Emily moaned into our kiss as my fingers sought out her clit, our lips momentarily breaking apart as Emily gasped and moaned. I was torturing her, moving my fingers up and down against her, grazing over her clit slightly and quickly before moving away a moment later, working her up but never giving her exactly what she wanted.

"Fuck, Naoms," Emily husked, pulling her lips away from mine. I opened my eyes to find her already staring at me, her gaze dark and lustful.

"What exactly do you want, Em?"

"Fucking...fuck me, Naomi. Fuck me!"

I smirked and pushed my fingers into her at the same time that my thumb began to move in small circles around her clit. Emily grabbed fistfuls of my hair and pulled me down to kiss her again, though it was barely even kissing considering Emily couldn't stop moaning long enough for me to kiss her properly. I curled my fingers inside her, trying to find that one spot that makes every girl -

"FUCK ME! NAOMI!"

Sounds like I've found the spot. I remember that for later as my thumb starts to move in more frantic, tighter, smaller circles around her clit and my fingers move into her faster and the way they curl becomes even more pronounced. Emily's hands move down from my hair to dig her nails into my back and shoulder, scratching against my skin as her walls started to clamp down around my fingers. The noise that comes out of me as Emily scratches against me is a cross between a moan and a cry of pain, but fuck, I like it, this animalistic side Emily brings out in me. Emily definitely wasn't a quiet one, judging by the scream she let out when she came a few moments later.

I barely gave her a chance to come down before I moved down, briefly kissing her nipples on my way. I grabbed her legs and boldly spread them apart, taking a quick moment to appreciate the absolute perfection I was faced with, before placing my tongue flat against her clit and sucking and flicking and gently biting at her for all I was worth. Her hips bucked against me, despite my futile attempts to hold them down. Emily's hands were in my hair, sometimes pushing me away because it was all too much for Emily, sometimes pulling me closer. Sometimes her hands would abandon my hair and grab futilely at the sheets. Sometimes Emily would push herself up so she could watch what I was doing to her, though she never managed to stay that way for long. It wasn't long before Emily started coming and screaming my name again, futilely trying to stifle her screams and moans by burying her face in her hands.

I decided to let Emily properly recover this time. I moved back up her body and laid down beside her, noticing that her breathing was ragged and her body was coated in a slight sheen of sweat. I wasn't much better off, so much so that I didn't notice that my thighs were rubbing together, trying to give myself something to give release. Watching Emily come undone like that had done a thing or two for me and I felt so turned on that I knew it wouldn't take much to make me come, judging by the throbbing between my legs and the wetness that had spread onto my inner thighs.

A few moments later, Emily rolled on top of me, her breasts pressed against mine, making me moan right away. She kissed me roughly, her tongue dominating mine in the same way her body was dominating mine. Her hands moved down my body, raising goosebumps in their wake. She wasted no time in moving her fingers against me. We both moaned into our kiss at that point.

"You're so fucking wet," she whispered against my lips. I moaned again as she buried her fingers inside me. She moved her leg between my legs and used the power of her hips and legs to push her fingers into me harder and faster, but that also left her grinding against my leg. She moved her thumb against my clit, pressing into me and flicking against me. Her movements were becoming more and more frantic, her fingers slipping through my wetness more frequently, and her grinding against my leg becoming more forceful. Her breathing was ragged and I swear my heart was beating fast enough that I was sure Emily could hear it. It wasn't long before we were both coming. What with watching Emily bring herself to orgasm on top of me and feeling her fingers fucking me and moving against my clit, I was a goner. I was much quieter than Emily, though I'm pretty sure I did end up calling out her name quite a few times as I came.

Emily rolled off me, our limbs still tangled together. She reached down and pulled the sheets over us. The room smelled of sweat and sex and Emily's shampoo but the pillow I was laying on smelled of someone else and it made me feel as though I didn't belong. Whatever had just happened between Emily and I was strange for me – I rarely let anyone touch me or get me off. That was usually something I took care of myself, but fucking Emily was like some kind of drug. I'd just come and I already wanted more of her. Wanted to taste her again. Wanted her to taste me, wanted to feel her lips around my clit.

Fuck.

"You staying the night?" She asked me sleepily. I looked over at the clock on her nightstand and knew that Effy would be worried about me if I didn't show up at home. Also knew that if I stayed the night, I'd fuck her again and I never fuck the same person twice.

"I better not actually," I replied, reluctantly getting out of bed. Emily turned on the lamp, which made it a bit easier to find all my clothes that were scattered throughout her bedroom.

I pulled my shirt back on and zipped up my jeans, facing away from the bed, though I could feel Emily's eyes on me regardless. I looked up and noticed a picture of Emily and the dark-skinned brunette that was at the club with Emily the other night. They looked like a couple. I frowned.

"Who's that?" I asked. Emily sat up further in bed, holding the sheets against her chest as she squinted at the picture I was pointing to. I don't know what her sudden modesty was for. I'd seen her breasts already. They were fucking perfection. In fact, I'd like to have another look. But then I remembered my rule – no fucking the same person twice.

"Oh. My girlfriend, Mandy. Well, I'm not sure if we're together anymore. We're on a break. Whatever the fuck that means."

I was reluctant to stick around and hear about their relationship problems, and also reluctant to stick around and hope that Emily would drop the sheet and I'd get another look at her fucking fantasic tits, so I grabbed my shoes and socks and smiled at Emily.

"I'll let myself out," I said quietly. "See you around, Emily."

"Yeah. See you, Naomi."

And with that, I left Emily's apartment, noticing that we had in fact broken quite a few things earlier on. I walked the two minute walk back to my own flat. I let myself in, not expecting to run into Effy at two in the morning. But there she was, sitting on the counter in the kitchen, smiling at me when I walked in. She blatantly looked me up and down, probably able to tell that I'd just been thoroughly fucked. She smirked at me again and winked.

"You had a call earlier tonight," She said after she'd finished taking in my appearance. I didn't see what could possibly be so exciting about a call that would warrant Effy waiting up for me till 2 in the morning just to tell me about it.

"Well who was it?" I asked. Effy hopped off the counter and handed me a sticky note with a number written on it.

"Some Miss Fitch from Amnesty International, calling to set up an interview," Effy smirked. "Amnesty International, eh, Naomi?"

I smiled at Effy, a genuine smile this time. I shrugged, though I knew Effy could tell just how excited I was. Amnesty International wanted _me!_ Even if it was only as a PA, they still wanted _me!_ That was pretty fucking exciting.

"Yeah. Amnesty International, Eff."

Effy just smirked at me before sauntering off into her bedroom.

_Well, Miss Fitch_, I thought to myself as I wandered off into my own bedroom, _you should be prepared for the most impressive fucking interview you will ever conduct._

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**Author's Note: Please leave me a review letting me know what you thought!**

**Check out my tumblr page where you can ask me questions and get mad at me for not updating AIWMTB: keeping-schtum DOT tumblr DOT com**


	2. Freedom of Thought

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews and favourites and alerts! Sorry the update took a bit longer than expected and is a bit shorter than the last chapter, things have been really busy lately with Christmas just around the corner. Hopefully you'll think it was worth the wait :)**

**As usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins.**

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_Chapter 2: Freedom of Thought_

I was completely fucking knackered. The past week had really taken its toll on me, and it was obvious through my haggard appearance. My usually glowing, radiant skin was sallow and I had dark circles under my eyes. My bright red hair wasn't as shiny as usual, and my roots were starting to grow in since I had no time to get my hair done. I wasn't just tired from all the work that'd been piled on my desk this week. No. My love life was in shambles and my ex-girlfriend was demanding that we get back together after I slept with somebody else.

Naomi. She was a good lay, that was for sure. I couldn't really get her out of my mind, but at the same time I didn't have enough time to properly think about her. She was always just there, somewhere at the edge of my thoughts. The thought of her perked me up during the horribly long days, and I'd find myself occasionally smiling just at the thought of her. There was just something about that girl...she intrigued me. She was aloof and cool and acted as though she didn't care about anything, but as soon as you got her into bed, she was anything but uncaring, almost completely focused on me the whole time. I hadn't told Mandy about her because we were on a break and whatever I did while we were on a break obviously didn't count...maybe. I don't know. I don't think it counted as cheating. Even if it did technically count as cheating, I wasn't exactly going to pretend it didn't happen to protect my relationship.

Mandy...she was slowly becoming a massive pain in my arse. Well, truth be told, she's always been a bit of a pain. I hadn't exactly been that enthusiastic about dating her to begin with, and then before I knew it, her things were all over my flat and she considered herself "moved in". I never asked her to move in. She just did it. And I felt too bad to ask her to move out, so I sort of just let her stay. Soon after she moved in she was talking commitment ceremonies and lady babies and by that point I knew I was in way over my head. But I just couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. I didn't even know where to begin, really, if I were to break up with her. Did I start with the bad first impression she made on our first date? Or how we had no chemistry in bed? Mandy and I were wrong for each other, but we were both too cowardly to admit it.

My fear of confrontation and upsetting other people kept me in that relationship for far too long. I suppose a benefit of being in a relationship with Mandy when I didn't really like her was that she was away most of the time. Mandy's job as a human rights lawyer was very demanding and she's in Geneva about 98% of the time. We were in a relationship basically because I was too afraid to break up with her and upset her. But earlier last week when she suggested we take a break, I leapt at the idea. Didn't really seem like much of a break though, considering it was a week later and she was begging me to take her back.

I continued contemplating my life and trying to figure out when exactly it turned into a steaming pile of horse shit while I finished getting dressed for work. It was a Friday. A glorious Friday. The last day of the work week. Thank god. My morning was full of calls to various diplomats, and my afternoon was full of interviews I had to conduct to replace my current assistant, who was about to get married and had found a job in Norwich to be closer to her husband's family. She was a great assistant and most of the applicants I'd considered already weren't nearly as qualified as my previous assistant. Only one application had stood out so far, and she was scheduled to come in for my last interview of the day.

I showed up at work looking completely presentable and put together, which was exactly the opposite of how I felt on the inside. Inside, I was taking a moment to relive the awesome sex Naomi and I had and wondering if I would be able to give up the chance of seeing her again if I got back together with Mandy. Basically every part of me was telling me not to get back together with Mandy, but the thing is, well, Mandy is easy and simple. I understand how she works. I know what makes her mad and I like the idea that I'm tied to someone...even if I don't necessarily like them. Breaking up with Mandy was taking a huge chance – what if I never saw Naomi again? What if I never found anyone better than Mandy? I wasn't sure what to do.

I greeted all my colleagues as I walked through the office before shutting myself in my own personal office and taking care of the conference calls I had to make to Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Each of the calls took longer than I'd expected so I ended up working well into my lunch break. By the time I was supposed to be conducting my first interview to replace my assistant, I was a miserable cow. I hadn't been able to stop for lunch, and hungry Emily is the worst type of Emily.

I stepped away from my desk and walked into the small waiting room outside my office, and saw my first interviewee sitting there waiting. She seemed a bit nervous, so I smiled at her as warmly as I could manage and shook her hand.

"Hi, I'm Emily. Are you Nancy?" I asked. The woman nodded and I ushered her into my office. "Did you bring a copy of your CV?"

Nancy sat down and reached into her bag. She handed me a copy of her CV as I sat down and grabbed a notepad and pen to take notes. I gave a quick glance to her CV, using it to remind myself of the qualities I liked about her CV and the areas I thought were lacking a bit for the position.

"I see here you're currently working at a law firm and you have a strong background in law, so why is it that you're interested in an assistant position?" I asked. Nancy shifted nervously in her seat.

"I'm...uh...this job is closer to my home. I really hate commuting in London."

Well, not exactly the answer I was looking for.

"Uh, okay. This job is quite demanding and would require you to travel and be on call most weekends and evenings. Would that be a problem?"

"Well...not really. I mean, I like to be home as often as possible to be with my cats, but I suppose the extra hours wouldn't be too much of an issue."

And the interviews went downhill from there. The woman I interviewed after Nancy had 5 children and there was absolutely no way she could be away from them for the occasional business trip or weekend. The woman I interviewed after her was well qualified but didn't speak French or Arabic, which was a problem since Amnesty International preferred if employees could speak at least one of the two languages as well as English. I personally required my employees to speak either French or Arabic because I dealt with those regions on a fairly regular basis.

By my last interview, I was so exhausted and disappointed that I didn't bother to get up. I had the last girl I interviewed ask the final girl to come into my office so I wouldn't have to move. I had put my head on my desk and groaned just as the final interviewee walked into my office.

"Crap day?" A familiar voice asked. My head snapped up immediately, my eyes wide. _Naomi_. I looked down at the list of names of the people I was supposed to be interviewing today, and there she was, at the very bottom.

"Your name is seriously Naomi Campbell?" I said the first thing that popped into my head. Naomi just shrugged. She didn't seem upset or bothered at all when she realized that I was the one conducting the interview. Meanwhile, my mind was moving as quickly as a fucking war zone. Just this morning I was thinking that I would never see Naomi again and that the wise decision would be to get back together with Mandy, and now here Naomi was, turning my world upside down. I wanted to hire her, then fuck her on the desk and completely forget about Mandy.

_This is going to be a problem._

Naomi sat down and handed me a copy of her CV.

"Should we get on with the interview or should I just leave now?" Naomi asked as I continued to stare at her in complete shock.

"Wha...why would you leave?"

"I don't know, maybe there's some kind of office-wide policy against fucking the boss."

"_Naomi!_" I hissed as I got up out of my chair and quickly shut my office door. "You can't just say things like that here. Someone might overhear..."

"But that _is _what happened, Emily."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my already horribly messed up hair. I knew she was right, I knew that was what happened, oh, _trust me,_ I knew. I was replaying it in my head right now. Every time I looked into those ice blue eyes of hers I remembered what her face looked like as she came. Every time she spoke I remembered what she sounded like as she moaned while I fucked her. Obviously, working with her might be a bit of an issue, since indeed there was an office-wide policy against 'fucking the boss,' as Naomi so eloquently put it.

"Okay, just give me a minute to process this," I said as I leaned against the door. Naomi shrugged at me again.

I didn't normally do things like this. I never cheated, I never lied, I never deceived. Naomi was the first risky decision I've made in years...hell, possibly the first risky decision I've _ever_ made. I knew I was supposed to feel guilty, but I just didn't. I couldn't. Because deep down, I knew that sleeping with Naomi wasn't a mistake, it was...fucking perfect. And I couldn't let her walk out of this office and never see her again. I had to see her again, I had to kiss her again, I had to fuck her again.

Quite obviously, giving her a job as my assistant could be yet another risky decision, and one that I wasn't sure I could afford. Naomi was, by far, the most qualified and well suited to the job out of all the applicants. But Naomi was also, by far, the most risky considering our history. If word got out that we'd slept together, we would both risk losing our jobs and essentially ruining our careers.

But apparently that didn't matter at all to me. Because I simply couldn't let her leave and never see her again. And I also couldn't be an idiot and not hire the most qualified candidate for the job.

"You're by far the most qualified applicant for the job, Naomi, and I know that without even going through the whole process of conducting this interview. But if anybody finds out that we slept together, that's it. We'll both be completely and utterly fucked," I said as Naomi smirked slightly. "Not in a good way, either. So if you accept this position, be forewarned that we _cannot_ sleep together again, and that absolutely no one can find out that we slept together last week." I said. Naomi continued to smirk at me.

"So we can't have sex while I'm your assistant?" Naomi repeated. I nodded at her. Her smirk widened. "Well, this should be fun."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Naomi got up out of the chair and walked over to where I was sitting on my desk. She pushed my legs open and stood between them. My breath caught as she leaned in and pressed her lips against my neck and her hands pulled my tucked-in blouse out from my skirt.

"I'm not technically hired yet," She whispered as her hands moved under my shirt and made their way to my breasts. She flicked her thumb against my nipple, making me bite my lip to keep quiet.

"Naomi, we really shouldn't," I whispered as Naomi started to move her lips up along my neck and closer to my own lips. Naomi sighed and stepped away, pulling her hand out from underneath my top.

"Fine," She replied. I closed my eyes and sighed, tilting my head back as I tried to figure out why exactly I asked Naomi to stop. In hindsight, I wished I didn't say anything and let her just fuck me on my desk. That would've been so hot.

"Need a minute?" She asked with a smirk as she sat back down in her chair. I closed my eyes again and nodded. "Good. Me too."

I tried to push all the images of Naomi and having sex with Naomi and kissing Naomi out of my head. When I looked back at her she was still smirking. I shook my head and cleared my throat and tried to get my thoughts back in order.

"Um...uhh... the job involves occasional business trips and being on call on most evenings and weekends. And I'll need you to get a police record check."

Naomi smiled. "The trips and weekends and evenings won't be a problem. I don't really have much to do in my spare time. And the record check should be okay...I think...maybe."

I let the last bit slide and continued with my final question. "Do you speak French or Arabic?"

"Yes. Fluent French, but _very_ little Arabic."

I nodded and smiled at her. "Well, then I'd like to offer you the job."

Naomi took a moment to think things over and smiled. "Okay. I'll take the job."

"I'd also like to ask you out to dinner. In a completely professional manner, of course."

Naomi shrugged. "Sure."

I grabbed mine and Naomi's jacket and lead the way out the office.

"It'll be fun, working for you," Naomi said with a smile as we got into the elevator.

"Why's that?"

She smirked and waited till the elevator doors closed before speaking. "It'll just be fun watching you remind yourself not to fuck your assistant."

"I think I can control myself," I scoffed. Naomi smirked.

"Sure you can."

"Naomi, I mean it, no funny business."

"I'm never funny, so no worries there," Naomi responded. "Now where are we headed for dinner?"

Over dinner, we went over further details regarding the job and I did my very best to control myself, and Naomi was on her best behaviour. I even managed to share a cab home with her and not ask her to come up to my apartment. See? Progress.

As soon as I got home, I found Mandy sitting on my couch.

"I suppose I should have asked for my key back when we broke up," I said. Mandy's head snapped up.

"Em, we need to get back together, I miss you so much," She said as she walked over to me. "Please take me back. I was so stupid, I never should have suggested that we take a break."

I stared at her, my face completely blank. What could I say to get me out of this situation? And suddenly, I had the answer.

"I slept with somebody else."

Mandy looked stunned for a moment.

"Who?"

"You don't know her. She's rather beautiful and I want to be with her," I said, not even necessarily lying at this point.

"Em, we can get past this. I forgive you! Just give us another chance," Mandy pleaded as she took my hand and kissed it repeatedly. I tried not to cringe at how pathetic she was.

"No. Give me the key to the flat. We can arrange for a time for you to come and pack your things."

Mandy started crying as she handed me her copy of the key to my flat, but thankfully I didn't have to push her out of my apartment. She left a few minutes later, and I found myself dialling the first person I could think of. Naomi had programmed her number into my phone over dinner and suddenly I couldn't get her earlier offer out of my mind.

"Hello?" She answered. I heard some shuffling in the background and some muffled voices, but I didn't care.

"You know, technically you haven't _started_ working for me just yet..." I said, letting my voice trail off suggestively.

"I'll be at your flat in five," Naomi responded.

Maybe hiring Naomi as my assistant wasn't the best choice I've ever made. Maybe I shouldn't have even slept with her to begin with. But right now, I didn't care. I'd fuck her _one last time_ and then that's it. No more. I can't risk my job, which I really do love. But for right now, I'll do what I want, and tonight all I wanted was Naomi.

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**Author's Note: Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

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	3. Freedom of Conscience

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for such an awesome response to this story! I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've been busy with typical holiday bullshit and writing this chapter was a bit more difficult than the last so I'm sorry for the wait! Hopefully this chapter will make up for it.**

**Very NSFW. Complete shameless smut fest. I'm not even sorry.**

**As usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins**

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Chapter 3: Freedom of Conscience

Okay, so I was breaking one of the only rules I live by, by sleeping with Emily twice. Was I upset about it? No. Emily was a fucking fantastic shag, so how could I possibly be upset by multiple orgasms? Rules are made to be broken, right?

I left an impromptu party that Effy was throwing at our flat. I didn't really know anybody there so I wasn't missing out on much. Effy's friends from work were all there and the only person I did recognize was Cook and he was a bit busy with some fit woman so I didn't bother him. Cook was probably my best mate by default, since he's known me the longest out of everyone. But in my mind, Cook was my brother. Cook and I go way back. We pretty much grew up together, even though we only met when we were thirteen. We were both young and stupid and reckless when we first met and I'm proud to say that that aspect of our friendship hasn't really changed.

I didn't say goodbye to anybody before I left, but Effy caught my eye while I was making my way out and I gestured to say that I was leaving. She shrugged at me in response and sent me a small smile. It was nice, not having to explain myself to anyone.

I lit a cigarette as I walked to Emily's apartment. The walk to Emily's was short and I ended up reaching her apartment building before I even finished my cigarette. I threw my cigarette to the ground and put it out with my boot, deciding not to waste any more time. I buzzed up to Emily's flat and she buzzed me into the building right away, without even checking to see if I was a serial killer or anything. Her building was a lot more secure and nice than mine. I got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 19th floor.

Her front door was left open slightly when I got off the elevator, which allowed me to let myself in. I made sure to shut and lock the door properly behind me. When I turned around, I was faced with an empty living room. I wasn't surprised when I didn't see Emily – I'd expected her to be in the bedroom anyway. So I walked down the hallway to my right, towards Emily's bedroom. I noticed that the walls looked different. A few photos were missing, I could've sworn I'd seen more photos in the hallway last time I was here. Though last time I was here I was drunk and being kissed by Emily so maybe I'd seen things.

I walked into the bedroom and still didn't see Emily. I decided that things were getting a bit weird, so I called out for her.

"Emily? Are you in here?" I called as I walked around her bedroom. I noticed that the photo of her and her girlfriend was gone from the wall where it used to hang. _Interesting_.

"Yeah," Emily's husked voice replied. I turned around and saw her leaning on the doorframe between her bedroom and her ensuite bathroom. She was stood in a black lace lingerie set, complete with a garter belt and sheer black stockings. Holy fucking shit did she look good. I'd never before felt my heart literally stop and resume at double its normal rate, but Emily in that lingerie set made my heart do that. My breath caught in my throat and I immediately felt like I was wearing too many clothes.

And then her hand moved from behind her back and revealed a small pair of handcuffs.

"This cool with you?" She asked. My throat was so dry that I couldn't stumble out an answer, so I nodded and quickly stripped down to my bra and panties.

Emily sauntered over to me and threaded her fingers through my hair. Her other hand traced the contours of my face while slowly pulling me towards the bed. Her hands slid down, brazenly grabbing my tits before quickly grabbing my wrist and securing the handcuff around it.

_Well, that was unexpected._ I'd figured I'd be the one using those handcuffs, though now that I thought about it, I remembered that the first time Emily and I had sex, Emily tried to top me. Apparently this time around, she was planning on getting exactly what she wanted.

She quickly turned us around and pushed me onto the bed. She put her knee between my legs and pushed us up closer towards her headboard, where she fiddled around the back for a moment before pulling out a small chain to hook the other end of the handcuff into.

"Do this often?" I asked as Emily leaned over me, giving me an eyeful of her tits, while she searched in her bedside table for another set of handcuffs.

"I suppose you could say that," She replied as she secured the other pair of handcuffs on my other hand and attached them to another hook on the other side of the headboard. "Comfortable?"

Her lips moved tantalizingly slow over the skin of my neck before making their way slowly down towards my breasts. I was quite happy I'd decided to wear a strapless bra now, since a normal bra would be impossible to take off while I was tied up like this. Emily deftly unhooked my bra and began biting and sucking at my nipple right away. My hands balled up into fists as her tongue circled my nipple. I desperately wanted to put my fingers in her hair and flip us over and fuck her senseless. I wanted to peel that lace lingerie off her using only my teeth and then plunge my tongue deep into her centre and make her fucking scream my name.

But instead, Emily was torturing me. My legs were pushing myself up in an attempt to grind my centre against her leg, but she moved out of the way each time I got close. My panties were soaked through and she hadn't even moved farther than my breasts yet. Is it possible to come just from having someone suck on your tits? Because it felt like I was seconds away from coming and I think Emily knew that because instead of stopping she sucked on my nipples even harder, paying both of my tits equal attention, and her fingernails scraped against the skin of my back and I swear to god, I fucking came. _Who manages to come without even having a little clit action?! Fucking Emily Fitch, you sex goddess, how do you fucking do this to me?_

My wrists pulled against the handcuffs while I came and I could've sworn I felt Emily smile against my tits and I was half torn between worshipping her and getting pissed off at her because yes I came, but it would have been so much better if I came while she had her mouth on my clit.

"Mmm," She whispered against my skin once I'd stopped coming. "_That's_ never happened before. Horny, Naomi?"

"Fuck off, Emily. Actually, better yet, _fuck me_."

Emily smiled smugly at me and her lips finally left my breasts. Her tongue traced patterns along the skin of my stomach and my ribcage and my hip. Her teeth grazed against the skin just above my underwear. She bit me on my hip, hard, and it _did_ hurt but it felt so fucking good that I didn't know whether to moan or cry out in pain. So what came out of me was a bit of both. Her teeth bit down on my underwear and pulled them down part of the way before she used her hands to pull them down the rest of the way. She put one hand on each of my bent knees and spread me open.

"Fuck," She murmured. She grabbed my legs and her tongue traced along the inside of my leg from my ankle all the way to the crease between my legs and my centre at the very top of my thigh. My legs were quivering and she had to hold them still because I literally felt as though I was going to pass out if she didn't touch me soon.

"Emily," I whimpered as my hands strained against my handcuffs. "Please."

If my hands were free I would've already grabbed her hair and pushed her mouth to my centre. Fucking handcuffs.

"What do you want, Naomi?"

"_Fuck me_."

She obeyed right away. Her tongue pushed into my centre before moving swiftly to my clit and biting down on it gently. Her fingers pushed inside me as her tongue continued to torture me. Her fingers pumped into me agonizingly slowly, curling against me each time she pulled them out. She pulled her fingers almost entirely out of me each time, only for them to be slammed back into me even deeper than the last time. Each curl of her fingers became more pronounced, each flick of her tongue brought me seconds closer to my orgasm. She slid in a second finger on her next thrust and the curling of her fingers had me on the edge and I knew it was only going to be seconds longer before my body gave in to her. Her tongue left my clit and bit down gently on me, pulling at my skin slightly before soothing it with her tongue. She found my g-spot on her last curl of her fingers and once she found that, she paid very close attention to it. My hands were straining against the handcuffs and I was sure my wrists were going to be bruised after this but I couldn't bear to give a single fuck about hips were moving against Emily's face of their own volition and no matter how many times she tried to hold me down, she couldn't stop me. Eventually she gave up and Emily's free hand abandoned my hip and trailed up my side. Once she reached my breast, she pinched my nipple slightly and finally pushed me over the edge.

The only thing I can remember is being completely unable to move after I came. Emily laid down next to me, wrapping her legs around mine and pressing my leg against her centre.

"I think you've broken my vagina," I replied, not bothering to open my eyes. I felt Emily laugh and place a gentle kiss on my breast. I heard the noises of her unlocking the handcuffs and felt her massage my wrists gently. And then, because I was still in the afterwake of my orgasm, I said something really stupid.

"I'll never be able to fuck anybody but you after that," I murmured. Emily, surprisingly, didn't freak out and simply giggled in response.

"Your wrists are all scratched and red. You're definitely going to have bruises tomorrow," She replied as she brought my left wrist to her lips and kissed it gently. "And I don't think I broke your vagina. I think you just had a pretty fucking intense orgasm, Naomi."

"How would you know?" I replied, finally managing to open my eyes and watch as Emily studied my wrist closely.

"Well...you sort of..." Emily trailed off as her fingers continued to trace the red marks on my wrist.

"What, Em? What did I do?" I asked, genuinely curious and also kind of nervous about what exactly my vagina did while I was coming.

"You squirted."

_What?! That's certainly never happened before._

"Oh," Was the only word my mouth managed to form while my mind dealt with the massive embarrassment I was feeling. _Don't start blushing, don't start blushing._

"Have you ever done that before?" Emily asked me, her eyes searching my slightly confused and also quite embarrassed eyes. _Oh my God, Emily, don't ask me that, obviously that's never happened before because you're a fucking sex goddess who makes me come every single fucking time and nobody else has ever been able to make me come like you make me._ I blushed at that thought and covered my face.

"Don't be embarrassed!" Emily said, trying to pry my hands away from my face, though I stubbornly refused to move them.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I did that," I said, my fingers muffling my voice and hopefully my embarrassment as well. I moved my hands away from my face and looked at Emily, who didn't seem upset at all. "I'm sorry, Em."

"Why would you be sorry?!" Emily asked. "Doesn't that just mean you had a fucking awesome orgasm? Why should you be sorry?"

"I don't know, it's just that never happened before and you were down there when it happened and I don't know! It's just embarrassing."

Emily smiled. "I quite enjoyed it, Naomi. I'm gonna try to make that happen all the time now."

I frowned at her. "I thought this was our last time together."

Emily blushed and corrected her mistake. "Yeah...yeah, you're right."

I smiled at her and grabbed her hands, quickly trying to change the subject.

"Where did you get this set from?" I asked as my eyes trailed over her body. She was still wearing the black lace lingerie set and now that I was free from my handcuffs I wanted nothing else but to agonizingly strip it off her.

"A specialty lingerie shop in Paris," Emily replied as her hands threaded through my hair and slowly moved my face closer to hers. "Haven't had a chance to wear it till now, though."

My lips gently moved against hers, trying to torture her the same way she'd tortured me. But our kiss wasn't agonizingly slow or torturous at all. It was quite nice, kissing Emily slowly and gently like this. It was nice to pull her into my arms and feel the weight of her lying on top of me. Our tongues moved slowly and languidly against each other. Rather than one of us trying to dominate the kiss, we were working together. I gently grabbed Emily and flipped us over so I was on top. I grabbed her wrists and gently moved them above her head, encouraging her to grab onto the pillows as I held her arms above her head.

My lips abandoned hers and created a pathway down the column of her neck, to her collarbone where I sucked and left a small love bite without Emily saying anything. I kissed her shoulders before my lips moved down to the tops of her breasts. My hands trustingly abandoned her wrists, hoping she'd keep her hands grabbing onto the pillows as I'd made her. I didn't want to use the cuffs on Emily. I wanted her to be able to move if she wanted to, but know that I preferred if she didn't.

My hands pushed the cups of the lace bra to the side and my lips took her nipple into my mouth. My tongue flicked gently against her, rousing a gentle and quiet moan from Emily. She sighed as I moved on to her next breast while my hand snaked behind her back and undid the clasp of the bra. I allowed Emily to move her arms so I could slide the straps of her bra off her before returning my attention to her breasts. Emily returned her hands to the pillows, just as I wanted.

Emily whimpered as my lips returned to hers and my hands dipped into her underwear. I had absolutely no intention of taking off the rest of Emily's set. She looked fucking delectable laying on the bed braless, but still with her underwear, garter belt, and stockings on.

My fingers dipped into her folds and found her completely sopping wet. She moaned into my kiss as I pushed two fingers inside her and fucked her as slowly as I could manage. My thumb pressed into her clit and circled it, alternating between the two motions. I remembered from the last time exactly where her g-spot was but I was planning on saving that one for later. Emily's breath was heavy and hot and hitting the skin of my neck and shoulder as I pumped my fingers into her. I started to curl them gently at first, then slowly becoming more pronounced until Emily arched her back and went stiff in my arms and whimpered as a series of tremors worked through her body.

"Holy shit," She whispered as I continued to kiss her neck and bring her down from her orgasm. "Sleep here tonight, Naomi."

I nodded and kissed her one last time before I pulled my fingers out of her and laid down next to her. She moved onto her side and wrapped her arms around me. Our legs tangled together, one of hers between mine, and one of mine between hers.

"If we have sex again in the morning we aren't breaking any rules, right?" Emily whispered just as I was about to sleep. I smiled.

"No, we wouldn't be breaking any rules," I replied before kissing her once more.

It seemed as though Emily was just as hooked as I was. And that was okay. I wanted to have sex with Emily just as much as she wanted to have sex with me, and I couldn't deny that not having sex with Emily while I worked for her was going to be insanely difficult and I probably wouldn't like it and I'd definitely miss the noise she makes when she comes. But it made it a bit easier to know that Emily would miss it just as much as I did.

And it made it a bit easier because I knew I was going to torture Emily at work until she gave in and we had sex again.

And it also made it a bit easier to know that we weren't exclusive and that I was allowed to fuck other people, though I doubted they'd even be a quarter as good as Emily. But I wasn't attached to anybody, and I didn't belong to anybody and I didn't want anybody to belong to me. And that rule included Emily.

I just wanted to have sex with Emily and that's it...

I think.

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**Author's Note: Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

**Check out my tumblr page at: keeping-schtum DOT tumblr DOT com**


	4. Freedom of Religion

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for the great response to this story! You guys have been so awesome. I've replied to all your reviews and I told you that I would have this posted on Sunday night and I apologize because, well, it's Monday night. I didn't feel comfortable posting it last night because I hadn't had a chance to read it over a few times and add in a few things I knew I wanted to add in.**

**I'm probably not going to be able to keep up the weekly updates, since university has started up again and I'm really busy this semester - ideally, I would be posting on a weekly basis with 6000 word chapters each week but realistically that's just impossible. So my question for you is would you prefer shorter chapters with more frequent updates or longer chapters posted about every 2 weeks - answer in a review or PM, please :)**

**And as usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins.**

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Chapter 4: Freedom of Religion

When I woke up the next morning and found Emily's side of the bed empty, I wasn't necessarily shocked or upset. I didn't expect Emily to stay in bed with me, especially not if she had things to do. Actually, I would've been alarmed if I'd woken up to find her laying next to me, watching me sleep. That's just creepy.

I noticed that she'd left a sleep shirt for me on my side of the bed and I could hear banging noises coming from her kitchen, so I pulled myself out of bed and put the simple grey sleep shirt on. It fit me a little short, which I'd expected since Emily was quite a bit smaller and shorter than I was.

I followed the banging and sizzling noises I was hearing to Emily's kitchen, where I found Emily cooking in a grey sleep shirt that matched my own. She was reaching into the fridge and grabbed a carton of orange juice and smiled at me as she placed it on the counter. She looked beautiful, even with her hair piled into a top knot on her head. She was fresh-faced and had obviously washed off her makeup from the night before. I probably looked an absolute mess since I didn't wash my mascara off before I went to sleep and didn't bother to look in the mirror before I came to the kitchen.

"Good morning. Do you like bacon?" Emily asked as she poured two glasses of orange juice and started boiling the kettle. "I know you're not a vegetarian since you ate meat when we went out for dinner the other night."

"If bacon was a religion, I'd join that religion," I replied. Emily smiled at me and handed me a glass of orange juice. She'd set up two places at her counter for us. Emily's flat was a typical London flat, which meant that she had no room for a dining room. As such, her counter had two barstools on one side that served as an eating space.

Emily plated up some bacon, scrambled eggs and toast for the both of us and made us both a cup of tea.

"Does this mean now I officially owe you one breakfast and one dinner? Because I can't cook and I'm pretty sure cooking in my flat could pose some kind of a fire hazard since my flatmate keeps books in our oven," I said as I started eating breakfast. Emily sat down next to me and smiled.

"Well, you don't exactly _owe_ me one breakfast and one dinner but now that I know that you can't cook I think it would be rather hilarious to watch you _try_ to cook...so I suppose the answer is yes, now you owe me one breakfast and one dinner. And it has to be cooked at your flat. And you aren't allowed to remove the books from your oven," Emily smiled as she said that. "So have fun figuring out how you're going to pull that one off."

I frowned while I ate my rather delicious breakfast and contemplated how exactly I was going to manage to cook Emily one breakfast and one dinner without engulfing my entire flat in flames and potentially dying (and also potentially killing both Emily and Effy, either by fire or by food poisoning). Emily was actually quite a good cook, which surprised me, considering Emily didn't really seem to be the type of girl who would be good at cooking. I suppose I just thought that since Emily had such a great career ahead of her that she wouldn't be very good at domestic things, though apparently I was wrong about that.

After breakfast, I actually helped Emily do the dishes. I couldn't even remember the last time I washed a dish. Effy and I eat takeout on a regular basis so we don't really do dishes ever. And after the dishes were done, I helped Emily make the bed. And after that, I helped Emily take a shower. And then Emily helped me take a shower.

That was my favourite part of the morning.

And then I got dressed and left.

I lit up my first cigarette of the day while I was walking home and again, I didn't manage to finish it by the time I got home. I tossed the cigarette to the ground and walked into my apartment building and up to my flat. I let myself in and went straight to my room. I was planning on calling Cook as soon as I got in and trying to sort out having my police record check done, since Emily had said that I would need to provide her with a copy. I knew there were going to be a few issues with it, but the good news was that Cook worked at the same security firm as Effy and would probably be able to sort something out for me.

I wasn't exactly an easy teenager, to say the least, and the "issues" that were going to pop up on my police record weren't exactly small ones, either. They sounded pretty bad if you listed them – robbery...grand theft auto...arson...assault – but they weren't ridiculously bad if you knew the story behind them, and the story behind me. Cook knew all that – hell, he was there for most of them and ended up getting charged just the same as me – and that's how I knew he would have absolutely no problem forging a little police record check for me.

I opened the door to my room and found Effy digging in my closet.

"Effy, what the actual fuck?" I said. I may have shouted and scared her. But I was pretty upset. I hated it when people were in my room without asking me, and hated it even more if they were going through my things.

"I was just looking for that belt you borrowed," Effy replied coolly, though I could tell I'd startled her.

"Why couldn't you just wait and ask me for it when I got home?" I asked as I stormed past her. I digged around in my closet and handed her the belt. Effy looked at me straight in the eye, trying to reassure herself that she wasn't afraid of me and had no reason to be.

"Fuck's sake, Naomi, I just wanted my fucking belt back, okay! No reason to get all worked up over it, it's not like I found your secret stash of porn or any skeletons in your closet."

"Just don't go through my fucking things!"

Effy glared at me before leaving my bedroom and slamming the door behind her. I instantly regretted getting so worked up over Effy rifling through my closet. I didn't want to upset her or get into a huge fight over one tiny little thing. But Effy didn't realize how close she was to finding the proverbial skeleton in my closet, and she didn't know just how important it was to me to hide that skeleton from her for as long as possible. Effy knew a bit about my background, but she certainly didn't know all of it and I wanted to keep it that way.

I moved a few pairs of my jeans out of the way and grabbed the tiny wooden box with a lock on it that held almost every single part of my past that I wanted to keep hidden away. It was easy to deny your past, but there were always traces of who you'd once been, traces of what your life could have been. Things that you just couldn't get rid of, even though you worked hard to forget them. That was what this box had inside it. Everything I wanted to forget, everything I wanted to deny, but couldn't.

It was a stupid place to hide it, really – everybody hides things in their closet. But I didn't really have anywhere else to put it. I had a mattress on my floor as my bed so I didn't have anywhere to hide it under that. I didn't have a dresser or a nightstand. So I simply moved it to the opposite side of my closet and buried it under a pile of shoes and resisted the temptation to open it and go through everything inside it and immerse myself in my past. I had things to do today. I couldn't waste time remembering my past today.

After I spent about 20 minutes making sure the box was completely invisible from any spot in my room, I went into the living room and apologized to Effy for flipping out on her. She accepted my apology and called me a moody cow, which I accepted because I definitely deserved it. Effy and I had learned about each other over these past few years living together at university – Effy knew when she had gone too far and pushed my buttons and I knew when I'd gone too far and gotten a bit too upset with Effy when she didn't really deserve it. We fought often enough to know that we were always going to forgive each other sooner or later. Thankfully, with this argument we decided to forgive each other sooner rather than later.

I called Cook after I made Effy lunch as a form of penance (and by "made Effy lunch" I mean I ordered a pizza that would serve as both lunch and dinner). I told Cook about my slight police record check problem and exactly why I needed a forged copy of my criminal record.

"Fookin' hell, Naomi, _Amnesty International_? Who'd ya bang to get that job?"

I argued that I didn't need to bang anyone to get any job and that I was a strong, independent and qualified woman who deserved to be hired at Amnesty International...who just happened to bang her boss. But I didn't tell Cook that last bit.

"Okay, fine, I can sort out this police record check thing for you. I probably won't have it done 'till Tuesday though, if that's okay."

"Yeah, that should be fine, I don't think my boss would mind."

"Alright, then, Naomikins, I will see you Tuesday evening to drop off my masterpiece of a forged criminal record."

"Thanks, Cook, I owe you one, mate!"

"Well, we could always-"

"Not that, Cook."

"Fine!"

And with that, our conversation ended and I found myself with nothing to do for the rest of the day. So I ate about ten slices of pizza and I worried about what my first day at work would be like and I wasted time on the internet. And then Effy decided that I had to leave the apartment or I'd go insane with worry, so she forced me to come with her to grab a coffee, where I spent most of my time fidgeting and continuing to worry about my first day at work.

"Maybe coffee wasn't the greatest idea," Effy said as she put her hand on my knee to stop it from shaking. "You need to chill the fuck out."

"I'm just too nervous about tomorrow, what if I'm really shit at being a personal assistant?"

Effy rolled her eyes. "It's impossible to be shit at being a personal assistant."

"What if I wear all the wrong clothes? Do I even own clothes that I could wear to a professional office environment? All I own are jeans and t-shirts. What the fuck am I going to wear?"

"You don't need a ballgown to answer a phone," Effy replied.

"Oh my god, why did I get a job?" I said as I buried my face in my hands. I heard Effy sigh.

"Shut up," Effy helpfully replied.

Effy then dragged me back home and went through my entire closet (though I carefully watched her to make sure she didn't get anywhere near my hidden box) and found something for me to wear tomorrow, all without saying a single word. By the time we were finished, it was almost midnight and time for me to (finally) go to sleep and hopefully stop worrying about the new job. It wouldn't really be that bad. How could it be, when Emily was going to be my boss?

I was glad that Effy wasn't really a mind-reader when I said a little silent prayer to whoever the fuck was up there to ask if maybe the universe can go easy on me for my first day at work. Because if Effy knew that I said a prayer, I'd get the most massive curious, searching glance of all time.

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**Author's Note: Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter and also to let me know if you'd prefer the longer chapters posted about every 2 weeks or shorter chapters posted every week!**

**Check out my tumblr page at: keeping-schtum DOT tumblr DOT com**


	5. Part 2: Assembly and Association

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews! I replied to all the ones I could :)**

**Obviously, I've decided to go with longer chapters with a longer break between updates, just for my own sanity. I've really got a lot of work at university this semester so this is really the only way I can keep up with updates. Hope that's okay!**

**So here we begin part two. Basically each part will examine a specific article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - some parts will be shorter than others since some articles have fewer clauses to examine. **

**And as usual I don't own or have anything to do with Skins.**

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**_Part 2: Freedom to Peaceful Assembly and Association_**

_Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. No one may be compelled to belong to an association._

_- _Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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Chapter 5: Freedom of Association

_That feeling that doesn't go away just did  
And I walked a thousand miles to prove it  
And I'm caught in the crossfire of my own thoughts  
The colour of my blood is all I see on the rocks  
As you sail from me_

_- My Blood,_ Ellie Goulding

It was my first morning at work and I was absolutely terrified. I'd been answering phone calls for half an hour all by myself and I had no clue what I was doing. Emily wasn't in yet and for all I know I could've already insulted a Bosnian diplomat over the phone. In fact, I'm quite sure I actually _did _insult a Bosnian diplomat over the phone.

Things have gotten to the point where I've turned on the answering machine just because I can't handle the stress of answering the phone and not knowing if I'm doing it properly or how to take Emily's messages down...or how to speak Bosnian. I'd been here since 8 in the morning because Emily had forgotten to tell me what time I was supposed to come in. She did make me come twice yesterday, though, so she was forgiven.

By the time Emily actually showed up at 9, I was just about ready to pack my things up and call it a day. And maybe head over to Emily's apartment. And demand to know why she was late. And then maybe have some shower sex.

"Naomi! What are you doing here so early?" Emily asked as she put her purse on our coat rack.

"Bosnia called," I replied. Emily stared at me with a quizzical look on her face.

"Right..." Emily replied.

"I don't speak Bosnian," I replied. "And I don't know how to answer the phone properly. Or how to take your messages down. Or how to turn on the computer. So I just put the calls through to the answering machine. And I've just been sort of sitting here...slowly dying."

I could tell Emily was trying her best not to laugh at me, which sort of made me want to punch her in the face. But I was still thankful for the shower sex we had yesterday so I didn't punch her.

"Okay, so obviously I'll have to teach you basically everything today," Emily said as she pulled up a chair and sat next to me. She leaned over me and pressed a button on the back of my computer. "Step one: this is how you turn on the computer."

And the rest of the morning went sort of like that. Emily slowly eased me into the idea of work and basically being her slave and I sat there and listened and learned as much as I could. By lunch I'd learned how to turn on the computer, properly answer the phone, transfer calls, take Emily's messages, manage her schedule, and I'd also learned where the bathrooms are. Emily insisted that we take our lunch break together so she could "go over a few things with me" and I agreed because I was hungry and Emily was wearing a skirt today and I knew it was somewhat windy outside. I was intrigued by the possibilities...and was hoping that one of those possibilities involved Emily's skirt getting blown up by the wind.

We walked to a Pret a Manger and ordered our food. Emily had a veggie wrap and I had a falafel wrap. We both bought water and shared a cookie.

"So what did you want to go over?" I asked. Emily shrugged.

"Can't really remember anymore. You look so...professional," She replied as she covertly tried to check me out and continue eating her veggie wrap at the same time. Apparently, it was okay for Emily to check me out only when we weren't in the office.

I wasn't complaining.

"Mhm," I replied. "And?"

"It's just distracting, that's all," Emily blushed and took a sip of her water.

"Why is it distracting?"

"Because you look fucking sexy in that top, alright?!" Emily replied. Her cheeks reddened and she avoided making eye contact with me. I smiled.

"Well, honestly, Emily, no reason to get so worked up."

Emily huffed and continued eating her veggie wrap while I ate more than my half of our shared cookie. I don't think Emily noticed, or at least, if she did notice, she didn't say anything. Maybe she didn't say anything because I leant over a bit too much to eat my cookie and gave her a pretty good look down my top.

It was going to be fun, watching Emily try to remember that I was her employee and that it would be inappropriate for her to fuck me.

We managed to get through the rest of lunch without Emily trying to eye me up or tell me that I look sexy. We didn't, however, manage to make it back to the office without the wind blowing up Emily's skirt. And we also didn't manage to make it back to the office without me complimenting her on her black, lacy thong. I really liked that part of lunch. Emily didn't seem to like it so much, though.

When we got back to my desk, Emily sat down in the chair next to me. Emily seemed kind of pissed and I hoped the comment I made earlier about her thong wasn't going to bite me in the ass. The phone wasn't ringing and Emily hadn't assigned me anything to do just yet, so I waited for her to tell me to do something.

"I need you to call the UN representative for Saudi Arabia," Emily said. "He prefers to speak in Arabic."

Oh God, it was payback time. Emily knew I wasn't fluent in Arabic and that this call would be almost completely impossible for me to make. The thong comment was definitely biting me in the ass. Emily sat next to me smugly as she handed me a business card with the phone number I was supposed to be calling.

"I don't speak Arabic well," I said as I punched the numbers in. Emily smiled.

"You'll be fine."

_Oh God._

So I called the UN representative for Saudi Arabia. And that conversation was anything but fine, thank you very much. I'm pretty sure he told me to fuck off at one point, and I'm pretty sure I accidentally insulted his daughter and he definitely hung up on me. Emily didn't seem to mind so much. She simply smiled at me before sauntering off into her office and shutting the door.

If _that_ was Emily's form of punishment, I doubt I'd be stepping out of line again any time soon. That phone call was massively embarrassing and I think Emily was pretty out of line for making me do that. I felt upset and embarrassed and just plain shitty.

I finished all of my assigned work for that afternoon, which Emily brought out a few minutes after the infamous "Arabic phone call disaster," as I now called it. At 5 o'clock, Emily grabbed her coat and I grabbed mine and we walked into the elevator together and to the tube station and almost all the way home without really saying anything to each other. Emily didn't ask me to come up to her flat, and obviously I didn't ask her to come to mine.

I felt upset. The day had made me feel upset. Emily's phone call punishment had been really embarrassing for me and I normally wouldn't feel embarrassed by something like that. But I realized that I wanted to do a good job. I wanted to impress Emily. And the way that phone call went down was anything but impressive.

But why? Why was I letting Emily under my skin like this? I've had jobs before and I didn't give a flying fuck about impressing my bosses. Something about Emily made me want to impress her. I didn't want to feel like this after a day of work – like I'd failed, like I was incompetent.

I came to the realization that I cared too much about what Emily thought of me.

And then I made the decision to change that. I had to do something tonight, something to get my mind off Emily.

I walked up to my flat, trying to think of ideas of things I could do tonight to get my mind off of Emily. Effy was sat on the floor in the living room with Cook, both of them drinking a beer. Cook smiled when he saw me.

"Naomi! I finished that forged police record check for you a day early. And because I did that, you owe me a night out!" Cook said.

I took off my coat and hung it up in our hall closet and took off my shoes. My mind was a bit more at ease now that I wouldn't have to think of something to do tonight. I'd go out with Cook, get completely fucked up, and maybe find a fit girl to _really _take my mind off Emily.

Effy got up and handed me a beer as I made my way over to sit next to Cook on the floor.

"Sounds good, Cookie. I'll get changed as soon as I finish this one off," I replied, gesturing to my beer. Cook handed me the sealed police record check.

"Nearly had to prostitute myself to get that for ya, Naomikins," Cook said as he nodded towards the police record check. I laughed.

"Glad you didn't need to resort to such drastic measures, Cookie. Eff, when the fuck are we going to get some actual fucking furniture?" I asked as I shifted uncomfortably on the hard wood floor. Effy shrugged and tossed a pillow at me. Yes, we don't have any form of furniture, but we have fucking throw pillows for decoration.

"As soon as you can afford to pay for half. And hopefully, now that you've got a job, that'll be soon."

I nodded and finished my beer in one swift gulp. For my own sake, I certainly hoped I'd be able to afford to pay for half of the furniture fucking soon – I was in dire need of a couch to sit on rather than this damn floor. I grabbed the empty beer bottles that were sat in the middle of our little threesome and threw them out before I went into my bedroom to get changed for my night out with Cook. When I went back out into the living room, fully dressed and ready for tonight, I found Cook alone in the living room.

"Where'd Effy go?" I asked. Cook shrugged.

"She got a call and said she had to go...something work related, I think," he replied. "Ready to go?"

I nodded but I guess Cook could tell I just wasn't myself tonight. He frowned at me.

"What's eatin' ya, girl?" Cook asked me as he draped an arm around my shoulder and slowly lead me towards the door. I sighed in response. Cook understood that I didn't want to talk about it just yet. "Come on then, Naoms, we need to get you a fit bird to shag as soon as possible. I haven't seen you this down since your two-week dry spell last year."

When Cook and I got outside, I offered him a cigarette, which he took. I lit up as well. We were headed to the same pub we always went to. It was a grungy mess and definitely wasn't even close to a decent pub but we both liked it.

"You ready to talk about it yet?" Cook asked as we paused in front of the pub to finish off our cigarettes.

"It's just my boss," I replied, rolling my eyes. Cook raised his eyebrow at me. He knew that wasn't the whole story. "I fucked her. Twice. And she pissed me off today and treated me really shitty and I shouldn't even care that she did that. Why do I care?"

Cook took a deep drag on his cigarette before throwing it to the ground and putting it out.

"Dunno, Naomikins," He replied, smoke blowing in my face. "Maybe your shag isn't just a shag."

I finished off my cigarette and nodded. I think part of me knew Emily wasn't just a shag. But another part of me was arguing that she _was _just a shag.

"And if she isn't just a shag?" I whispered. Almost like I couldn't entertain the idea too loudly.

"Then you're always gonna get your heart ripped out somewhere, aren't ya?" Cook sent me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Naoms. I'll find you a proper fit bird tonight and she can solve all your problems. Just forget about your boss, mate. She ain't worth it."

Cook grabbed my hand and lead me into the bar and to our favourite booth. He got the first round in and before I knew it, we were six rounds in and I was knee deep in Emily-feelings. I was mad that she could get to me like this. Who did she think she was? Who gave her the right to fuck with my head like this?

Cook came back with the next round accompanied by two blondes. One smiled at me and sat next to me, while the other sat next to Cook. I didn't pay much attention to Cook's blonde.

"Hi," the blonde next to me said. "I'm Jessica."

I smiled at her and tried to be cool.

"Naomi. Do you want to come outside with me for a smoke?" I asked as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my pack of cigarettes. Jessica nodded and we headed outside.

"So what do you do?" Jessica asked as I lit up. I handed her the pack and the lighter and took a deep drag from the cigarette.

"I'm a personal assistant. What about you?"

Jessica shrugged and took a drag from her cigarette.

"Doesn't really matter, does it?" She looked straight at me and smiled. "Shall we fuck now or later?"

So I pushed her into a nearby alleyway as my answer.

I pushed her against the brick wall and ignored how her lips felt too full against mine._ Not like Emily's lips. _

I ignored how her tits were too big and how her moan sounded different. _Not like Emily's._

And I ignored how she didn't whisper my name when she came. _Not like Emily does._

And I pulled my fingers out of her and I didn't feel any better. I thought I would. I thought fucking this girl would fix things. That I'd maybe forget about Emily just a little bit.

But I just felt more alone.

Jessica or whatever wandered off after she pulled her panties back up and I stayed in the alleyway for a minute. I tried to pull myself back together. Eventually I gave up. I wasn't going to pull myself back together. It just wasn't going to happen. Because instead of pushing Emily to the back of my mind, fucking that girl had brought Emily right to the forefront of all my thoughts. And maybe I missed her just a little.

I sent a text to Cook to let him know I was headed home. He didn't reply back. Was probably too busy fucking that other blonde that had sat with us. I didn't mind, though.

I got home far too late and felt upset and stupid for even going out on a Monday night. I'd have to wake up in four hours and I was going to be in a bad mood when I saw Emily tomorrow.

I don't know why I think I can solve all my problems with a random shag. It used to work. But ever since Emily came along, it doesn't work anymore. Maybe because I don't want to have sex with anyone but her. I only want to feel _her_ beneath me. I want to feel _her_ come around my fingers, in my mouth. I want to taste every inch of _her_ skin.

And I want her to want me to do those things and not care that she's my boss and that we shouldn't be doing it. Because I don't care about those things.

_I just want her._

But I suppose she doesn't want me enough to ignore those things.

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_Emily_

I went home that first day feeling like shit. I was regretting hiring Naomi. Not because she was a bad employee or anything. Naomi was fantastic, even on her first day when she shouldn't be so fantastic. She learned quickly and I didn't even have to spend the whole day training her.

I was regretting hiring her because I couldn't resist her. And my job wouldn't let me have her. And fucking hell, Naomi was all I could think about anymore. My whole walk up to my flat, I was thinking about her hair – how it smelled, how it looked today, how it felt between my fingers when I pulled at her hair while she went down on me.

I got into my apartment and stripped down to my bra and panties right away. I spent almost the entire night touching myself and thinking about Naomi. Wondering what she was doing, who she was with. If she was out fucking somebody else. Did she miss me?

Was I allowed to miss her?

I drifted off at some point and woke up to the sound of my mobile ringing. I walked into the hallway, where I'd left my phone on a small table, and saw that Naomi was calling me. I wondered what she had to say at two in the morning. Maybe she really did miss me. Maybe she wanted to come over for a shag. I wouldn't refuse.

I answered and heard the sounds of a woman moaning. And the unmistakeable sound of that woman getting fucked. Except those moans weren't Naomi's.

She was fucking somebody else.

I didn't want to hear anymore than I already had. I hung up and I went back to bed, silently seething. I had to remind myself that Naomi was allowed to fuck other people. Hell, _I _was allowed to fuck other people. Maybe that's what I'd do. I'd go out tomorrow night and find some fit woman and fuck her.

Except I didn't want to do that. Not really. I just wanted Naomi. And I wasn't sure that Naomi wanted me anymore.

Even if I did fuck some other woman, I'd be doing it just to spite Naomi. This wasn't some kind of fucked up competition and I wouldn't let it turn into one.

My anger simmered down and turned into sadness. Because Naomi and I couldn't work. I should've known that right away. But my biggest fault is my hope and I really wanted us to work somehow.

Naomi obviously wasn't as hung up on me as I was on her. And I shouldn't risk my job for someone who didn't really care for me . . . right?

Whatever feelings I had for Naomi had to just be put on a back burner. I couldn't lose my job over her. No matter how badly I wanted her.

I'd just have to stop.

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**Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading! Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought.**

**Check out my tumblr page at: keeping-schtum DOT tumblr DOT com**


	6. Freedom to Peaceful Assembly

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter! To be honest, I haven't had the time to reply to them, what with keeping up with 6 courses at uni and working and trying to have a social life. So I'm very sorry about that! I will definitely reply to the reviews I get on this chapter though :)**

**This chapter spun out of control. It was supposed to cover 3 days. It ended up covering 1 day. Brilliant...**

**And as usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins**

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Chapter 6: Freedom to Peaceful Assembly

Needless to say, I was horribly hung over the next morning when I showed up for work. I was also late because I spent fifteen minutes retching that morning before I was even able to get ready for work. Emily was not impressed with me, that was for sure. She wasn't speaking to me and I wasn't entirely sure if that was because she was still mad at me from yesterday or if she was mad at me for being late or if it was a combination of those things. She handed me my work when I popped my head into her office to apologize for being late and that was the only interaction we've had all morning.

I had five folders to look after, each detailing a different task. The first was simple enough – arrange Emily's lunch plans for the day and contact some woman named Mandy and ask her to meet Emily at a nearby restaurant. I got that done and updated Emily's schedule for her and made sure to send her a confirmation e-mail detailing the reservation I'd made for her at the restaurant. Then I took a quick break to go to the toilets and vomit again. Why, oh why did I think it was a good idea to get absolutely shitfaced on a work night? Note to self: never listen to Cook ever again.

I went back to my desk and saw Emily leaning against her doorway waiting for me with an unimpressed look on her face.

"I need you to forget about whatever tasks you haven't finished just yet," She said tersely. "I need you to advocate on my behalf for Elisaveta Dimitrova. She's a Bulgarian waitress who was assaulted at random on the day of the Pride Parade in Sofia, though she isn't gay. The police there aren't actively searching for the people who assaulted her and the CCTV cameras in the area have been wiped clean. It sounds like somebody on the force was involved, but the government is covering their asses and nobody else is getting involved. I already have too much on my plate and can't take on another case, so you're going to have to handle this one. You need to alert media outlets, and get in contact with the Bulgarian ambassador and discuss the matter with him and suggest that his government step up their search for the assaulters."

I stared at Emily blankly, not sure about where to even begin my new task. I'd never even heard of advocating on somebody's behalf, but I couldn't tell Emily that I wouldn't do the task. Emily handed me a very thick folder.

"There's a checklist of things you have to do in there. There's also phone numbers for media outlets, various Bulgarian officials, and a number for Elisaveta herself. I suggest you call her first and hear her side of the story. She does speak English, so you should be fine," Emily said as she looked down at her watch. "I'm off to lunch now. You can take your lunch when I get back."

And with that, Emily grabbed her handbag and sauntered off towards the elevators while I sat dumbfoundedly staring at the massive folder. I did as Emily suggested and phoned Elisaveta first to hear her side of the story. I took diligent notes while she retold what happened to her and how she was left bleeding in the street until early the next morning when a woman who was on her way to work found her. Her calls for help had been ignored and her cell phone had been smashed during the assault, so she had no way of contacting the police herself. She didn't mention anything about the obvious corruption surrounding her case, and I chose not to bring it up. If she wasn't talking about it, there was a good reason. Elisaveta was a waitress but she sounded like a smart woman who was very aware of her surroundings and the shortcomings of the police force and the government. I finished up my conversation with Elisaveta and began calling media outlets and various Bulgarian officials. I was about halfway through when Emily came back from lunch.

"I'll be in conference calls for the rest of the day, please don't disturb me," Emily said curtly after she hung up her purse and walked into her office. She slammed her door shut and drew her blinds closed. "You can take your lunch break now."

Emily is definitely in a fucking miserable mood today. I headed to the toilets before lunch and mercifully managed not to be sick. I then went to grab a coffee and a bagel because that was all my stomach was able to handle. I popped two paracetemol tablets and headed back to work early – might as well work through the half hour left of my lunch break. I was hoping to get all my work done for the day, including all the work Emily had assigned me before the Elisaveta case. Maybe if I actually managed to get my work done, Emily would cheer up.

I got back to the office and finished up with Elisaveta's case for the day – everything else I needed to do would have to wait until the media people and Bulgarian officials were able to get back to my emails and phone calls. I finished up the work in the other four folders Emily handed me, and I also re-worked Emily's schedule for the rest of the week after she sent me an email stating that we were headed to a protest on Friday on behalf of Amnesty International. That meant that all her Friday conference calls were going to have to be rescheduled, so I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with various businesspeople and Amnesty-people in order to reschedule those conference calls.

Emily popped her head out of her office at about 6 pm and asked me to order food in and told me that we were going to have to pull a late night tonight. She handed me more work and gave me the details of a business trip I had to book for the two of us. I ordered a pizza right away, worried about how a grumpy _and_ hungry Emily might behave. Grumpy Emily was bad enough and I didn't want to find out what hungry Emily was like.

The pizza arrived while I was half-way finished booking our business trip to Bulgaria. Emily popped out of her office as soon as I opened the box, as though she somehow sensed that the pizza had arrived. She dragged her office chair out and sat across from me as we both delved into the pizza.

"Are you done with your work yet?" Emily asked. I nodded and took a bite of my pizza.

"Almost done. I have to finish up booking the business trip and then I'm all done."

Emily nodded. "Well I suppose you can leave as soon as that's finished up. You must have a busy night of fucking random girls to get to."

I nearly choked on my pizza at that little tidbit of information.

"Sorry...what?" I asked. Emily looked at me straight in the eye and I saw anger flash in her eyes.

"You pocket dialled me last night while you were fucking some girl."

I didn't know what to say to that. Suddenly, Emily's behaviour today made sense – not only was she mad at me for my comments yesterday and the fact that I showed up late this morning, but she was mad because she heard me fucking another woman. Then again, Emily and I never said we were exclusive and we weren't even supposed to be sleeping with each other now that we were working together. So she sort of had no right to dig her nose into my personal life and get pissy with me for having sex with someone.

"My personal life is my personal life, Emily, and I don't think that my personal life should reflect on how you treat me at work. Especially considering whatever happened between us is over," I replied as I tossed my napkin in the garbage.

"You sort of fucking make your personal life my business when you pocket dial me and I have to listen to you fucking some other girl, Naomi."

"Would you rather I fuck you, Emily? Is that what this is all about?" I asked as I turned back to my computer and confirmed the business trip. Emily stared at me without saying a single word, her lips pursed tightly. "Business trip is confirmed. I'll forward you the email. Goodnight, Emily."

And with that, I grabbed my jacket and handbag and walked towards the elevators, adrenaline from our argument still coursing through my body. I hailed a taxi, too lazy to bother with the tube at this time of night. And when I finally got home, I was still angry. What gave Emily the right to get mad at me for who I had sex with? Who did she think she was?

I slammed the door to the flat shut behind me, startling Effy who was sat in the middle of the living room. She closed her laptop quickly when she saw how angry I was. I shoved my jacket in the closet messily and threw my shoes in behind it.

"Naomi, what the fuck?" Effy asked as she fixed my jacket and shoes in the closet. "This is the second night in a row you've come home in a pissy mood."

"It's my fucking boss, she's such a fucking bitch," I replied as I reached into the fridge and grabbed a beer.

"What did she do today?" Effy asked as she sat back down by her laptop and continued looking through a few furniture store websites.

"I don't want to talk about it. Basically she found out about an aspect of my personal life and now somehow that gives her the right to punish me at work," I said, taking a swift swig from my beer. "I like that couch."

"Naomi, you've got to bite the bullet. Not everybody is going to be nice to you all the time and yes, sometimes you'll have a bitchy boss. You've got to just deal with it."

"Well, that's what I am fucking doing Effy. Haven't quit, have I? I need this job, no matter how much Emily pisses me off."

And as soon as I finished saying those words, my cell phone started ringing. Emily's name flashed on the screen and I felt like throwing my cell phone against the exposed brick wall Effy and I had in our flat. But I bit the bullet and answered the fucking phone.

"Hello?"

"Naomi, I need you to come to my flat and help me pack some things up."

"What am I, your maid?"

"Well, you're my personal assistant, so you're whatever I want you to be."

And then she hung up the call. I handed my beer to Effy as I walked into my room to change out of my business clothes.

"Where are you going?" Effy asked as she leaned against my doorway.

"Emily wants me to help her pack things up at her flat," I replied as I changed into an old and torn pair of jeans and a tank top. "Apparently, I'm her maid and whatever else she wants me to be."

Effy smiled at me sympathetically. She handed me back my beer.

"Finish that before you leave. Sounds like you need it more than I do."

That was probably one of the wisest things Effy's ever said to me. It was obvious that Emily wasn't in the best of moods and I wasn't exactly excited to go over to her flat and basically be her bitch for the next few hours. I threw on a pair of sneakers and an old leather jacket before I headed over to Emily's flat.

When I showed up, she buzzed me in right away and left her front door open just like she did the last time I was over. Except the last time I was over, I was greeted by a lingerie-clad Emily. This time, however, I was greeted by Emily wearing leggings and a sweater. The lingerie definitely looked nicer on her. Her hair was held up in a topknot and she'd taken off all her makeup and was wearing glasses. She was bending over a box, which she was filling up with books.

"Didn't know you needed glasses," I said as I shut the door behind me. Emily didn't say anything in reply.

"I need you to do the closet," Emily said as she lead me into her bedroom. Her bed was unmade and her room looked a mess. She lead me into her closet and gestured to the left half of the massive walk in closet. "Everything on the left side of this closet needs to be put into boxes. I don't care how messily you do it, just get it done, okay?"

"Uh...okay," I replied. Emily handed me a bunch of boxes and a tape gun. "Why?"

"Because my ex is refusing to move her things out of my apartment. I'm going to box everything up and have them all sent to her."

"Oh," I replied as I started removing fancy suits and dresses from the hanger. Emily turned to leave but hesitated when she reached the doorway. Her fingers gripped tightly onto the doorframe.

"It would be nice if you'd wrinkle her suits. Especially the nice ones. In fact, don't fold anything," Emily said without turning around. She left as soon as she'd finished speaking and the way she stomped her feet and moved her hips told me that yes, she was _pissed._ I was just happy that at least she wasn't currently pissed off with me.

I finished up the closet much quicker than I expected – it didn't take very long to fill eight boxes full of clothes when I didn't have to fold any of them and was encouraged to wrinkle things. Emily popped in to check on me a few times and actually helped me tape some of the boxes shut.

I walked out into the living room and saw Emily sitting on the floor and taping up a box. Her living room looked pretty empty without all those books she'd packed away. Her shelves looked sparse and half her closet was empty and it was weird to see Emily exposed like this. I suddenly felt sorry for Emily. I'd been pretty rude to her earlier today and even though she kind of deserved it, I was a bit harsh. Emily didn't seem angry anymore, she just seemed sad. I'd feel sad if I broke up with someone I'd shared a home with.

"Hey," I said quietly as I sat down next to her. She looked up at me and I saw how tired she looked. She smiled a small smile at me. "You okay?"

She shrugged. "I suppose so. Just a bit upset, you know."

I nodded. "Emily, I really hope I'm not being presumptuous asking this, but did your relationship end because of what happened, you know, between us?"

Emily sighed. She looked at me and smiled slightly again.

"What happened between you and me showed me that Mandy and I weren't right for each other. I...I never felt...when I was with you, Naomi, it was like I felt alive again. I was with Mandy because it was easy to be with Mandy, it was easy to live my life with a blindfold on, completely unaware of what I was missing out on. So, I suppose, yes, my relationship did end because of what happened between you and me," Emily fiddled with a bit of tape on the box as she spoke.

I didn't know what to do, or say. I wanted to wrap my arms around Emily and tell her it was going to be okay, but I wasn't sure that it was going to be okay and I wasn't sure that I was allowed to wrap my arms around her. So I did the next best thing. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it in what I hoped was a reassuring way.

"Sorry I was such a dick earlier," I said. "You didn't really deserve it."

Emily looked down at our entwined hands and nodded.

"No, I did deserve it. I can't control you. You can do whatever you like," Emily said as she pulled her hand away from mine. I bit my lip nervously, unsure of what to say next. Emily pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"I didn't want to do that, though. I didn't like it," I said very quietly. Emily turned her head and rested it against her knees so she was looking at me. She watched me intently as I bit my lip and contemplated what to say next. "I fucked that girl to try to prove something to myself."

Emily nodded, but her face remained impassive. I was hoping I wouldn't have to spell things out for Emily, hoping that she would just understand what I meant.

"Did it work?" She asked.

"No," I replied. Emily nodded and this time, she reached out to grab my hand.

We just sat like that for a few minutes. I really hope Emily was able to understand what I was trying to say because my heart felt like it was beating out of control and I didn't like it one bit. I was starting to realize that I wanted to be with her and that, really, nothing was going to change that, no matter how hard I tried to fight it.

"Naomi," She whispered quietly. "Can you stay over tonight? I really don't want to be alone."

I nodded at her. Because I didn't want to be alone either. I stood up and grabbed Emily's hands and helped her get up. She wrapped her arms around my waist and stood up on her tip toes and kissed me gently. She kept an arm wrapped around my waist while we walked to the bedroom.

We both undressed down to our underwear and climbed into Emily's unmade bed. We both lay down facing each other, and I reached over and traced patterns on the bare skin of her arm.

"I thought this wasn't allowed anymore," I said quietly with a small smile. Emily smiled back.

"Fuck the rules," Emily replied. She moved closer to me and we both wrapped our arms around each other. Emily leaned up to kiss me again and I kissed her back. "You still gonna be here in the morning?"

"Yeah."

"Goodnight, Naomi."

"Night."

We didn't have sex that night, but we did fall asleep together for the second time. I really liked it. I tuned out all the internalized worries I had and I managed to just let myself be in the moment. I wanted to be with Emily. It was a scary thought for someone who's never been in a relationship. But that was okay because right now I wasn't letting myself feel scared.

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**Author's Note: Please don't forget to let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review :)**


	7. Freedom to Peaceful Assembly II

**Author's Note: So I owe you guys such a massive apology it isn't even funny. I sort of dropped off the face of the earth entirely. I even deleted my tumblr! I've literally been so busy finishing up my year at uni and figuring out what I want to do with my life that I had no time to write or do anything that wasn't school related. Technically, I'm still in the thick of it since it's exam season but luckily for you, I have a bit of a break right now before the madness begins. **

**I've had this chapter half-done for quite some time now and I finished it up tonight. It was meant to be longer (way longer) but I wanted to get something out to you and push me back into an updating schedule. So it looks like Peaceful Assembly is going to be more of a 3 parter than a 2 parter as I'd planned. Oh well.**

**To reward you all for coming back and continuing to read this story even though I am a massive tit, I gave you super raunchy dirty fun times at the end of the chapter. **

**And as usual, I still don't own Skins.**

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Chapter 7: Peaceful Assembly Part II

It was Thursday evening and Emily and I were hanging out at her flat instead of hanging out at the office, like normal. We were researching and studying because we were headed to a pro-choice protest tomorrow instead of staying in the office. Emily found out about the protest earlier in the week and signed us up to go to the protest on behalf of Amnesty International. Apparently our job at the protest was to make clear exactly what Amnesty's stance on abortion actually was. Amnesty's stance was a bit difficult to explain, according to Emily. I agreed, since she'd spent most of the night trying to explain it to me and I still didn't really understand.

"You need to know this in case we get interviewed, Naomi!" Emily said as she buried her face in her hands. She was exasperated, surely, because we'd been talking about this for an hour and I just wasn't getting it. "Amnesty International supports abortion in cases of rape, incest, and when the life or health of the mother is at stake. We do not support abortion as a universal right. We do support the decriminalization of abortion."

"But why?" I asked, still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. "Look, if we get interviewed I'll just pretend I don't speak English, okay? You can answer all the questions because I sure as fuck don't know why we don't support abortion as a universal right."

Emily sighed. The buzzer to her flat buzzed, indicating that our Chinese food had arrived. Emily buzzed them in and paid and brought the food to the coffee table. We had been sat on the floor at opposite ends of the coffee table while Emily quizzed me on Amnesty International's stance on abortion. Emily laid out all the food in front of us and handed me a plate, along with my order of spicy orange chicken and egg fried rice and chow mein.

"Look, I know that Amnesty's stance on abortion is really problematic. I know that. But we have to stick with it. It isn't our personal belief, but it's the belief of the organization and we're there to _represent_ the organization. We don't have a choice."

"So if I were to get interviewed, I would say 'It isn't my personal belief, but Amnesty International says this and this'," I said as I loaded my plate up with food. Emily sighed again.

"No, Naomi, you would say 'Amnesty International's stance on abortion is that it supports abortion in cases of rape, incest, and when the life or health of the mother is at stake. Amnesty does not support abortion as a universal right, but Amnesty does support the decriminalization of abortion'," Emily replied.

"Well that's a fucking mouthful, innit?" I said.

"I think we should just say you don't speak English if we get interviewed."

"Fine by me."

Emily and I ate the rest of our food, and mercifully, stopped talking about Amnesty International. Our relationship was at an odd standstill and it made things quite awkward. We both knew that we wanted more from our relationship, but it seemed like neither of us were willing to act on it. I was terrified of putting myself out there. I'd never done that before, ever. Hell, I'd never been in a relationship before. I had no idea how to go about things. And it didn't seem like Emily was too eager to show me.

After we finished eating, I helped Emily clean up the leftover food, which consisted of transferring whatever was left to tupperware containers and putting them in the fridge. Fairly simple.

"So I'll swing by your flat tomorrow to pick you up?" Emily asked. I shrugged.

"Sure. I should warn you though, my flat is a lot less nice than yours," I replied. Emily shrugged and smiled.

"Doesn't matter. We've all been there," She said. She handed me a notepad and a pen and asked me to write down my address and flat number. I even drew a little map that showed the mere 300 metres she'd have to walk to get to my flat.

"Just in case you get lost," I said with a smile as I handed Emily the notepad and pen. She smiled.

"I know this area pretty well. I should be fine."

I smiled back and we both started moving towards the door. The tension and the awkwardness in the air was actually too thick to cut it with a knife – in fact, I would recommend cutting it with a battle axe. I was wondering if I should hug Emily goodbye or if I should even touch her at all. I decided on not touching Emily at all and seeing if Emily would hug me instead. It didn't work well.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," I said as I grabbed my jacket. Emily nodded and shuffled her feet.

"Yup, tomorrow. Bright and early."

"Not too early, I hope," I joked. Emily smiled and opened the door. I guess we aren't going for hugging then. And I suppose we also are just not going to touch or address how tense and awkward this was.

"Bye, Naomi."

"Bye, Emily."

And with that I walked to the elevator. As soon as I heard the door shut behind me, I let out a huge breath. That was, by far, the most awkward interaction I've had in months. Possibly years.

I walked back home to my flat, and lit up a cigarette along the way. Again, I wasn't able to finish it before I got home. Going to Emily's flat so often seemed to be inadvertently cutting down on my smoking time, which was both saving me money and saving my life. Win-win, I suppose.

I walked into the flat to find Effy stood in the middle of the kitchen/living room/dining room holding up fabric samples.

"Which one for the new couch?" She asked. She was holding up one sample that was light blue and one sample that was slightly darker blue.

"Effy, those look the same to me."

Effy bent down to grab the throw pillows we had scattered around the room and pressed the samples up to each individual pillow.

"What colour do you think goes best with the pillows?"

"I don't know, Effy, all the pillows are white or cream so don't they go with everything?"

"I need help, Naomi, just tell me which sample you like better!"

"Well, if I spill pizza or pasta or chinese food on either of them it'll stain," I muttered as I hung my jacket up and took my shoes off.

"You're not allowed to eat on the couch."

"The lighter one then," I replied as I rolled my eyes. "Living life on the edge with light fabrics that stain easily."

"Yay, adulthood," Effy replied sarcastically as she tossed down the pillows and fabric samples. She walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of vodka. "How was work?"

"Not bad... same old, same old, you know. Advocating on behalf of someone whose human rights have been violated, getting yelled at in Bosnian, trying to get a look up my boss' skirt. Just an average day at the office, really."

"If only my days at the office were like that," Effy mused as she handed me the bottle of vodka.

"Mmm...I have to go to a protest with Emily tomorrow. Some pro choice thing. Seems pretty tame."

Effy nodded while I took a sip of vodka.

"Well, you know who to phone if things get out of hand."

"The ghostbusters?"

"No, me and Cook, you little shit."

I sniggered and hauled myself off the floor.

"Alright, Eff, whatever you say. I'm sure we'll be fine, it's just a bunch of feminists all standing around and chanting, right? Anyway, I'm off to bed. Goodnight."

"Night."

As soon as I got into my bedroom, I put my phone down on my mattress and started to change into my sleeping clothes. I resisted the temptation to look in my closet and find my hidden box while I folded my clothes and tied my hair up. My phone vibrated on my bed, providing a welcome distraction.

_I miss you. Emily x._

I frowned as I tried to figure out what to reply back. It was pretty late and there was no guarantee to how this conversation was going to end. I mean, from my experience, people who text late at night are usually only interested in one thing. Would it turn into some kind of sexting session? I shivered at the thought.

_I miss you too._ I typed back as quickly as I could. I turned off the main lights in the room and left only a lamp on by my bed. I climbed in and pulled the covers up over me, with my phone still in my hand, as I waited for Emily's reply.

_I seem to miss you most once I get in bed. How odd. E, xx._

Oh god. Sexting it is, then.

_That is quite odd. What exactly do you miss about me?_

If we really were heading down this road, I certainly wasn't complaining.

_Your lips. _

_ Your hands. _

_ Your tongue. _

_ Your tits._

_ The way you make me scream your name._

_ E, xx._

I felt my panties dampen as I read Emily's reply. I bit my lip as I typed my response out.

_Maybe you should come over..._

Let's face it. I'd rather have Emily's hands, lips, and tongue making me come than my own fingers. And while sexting was hot, why deny myself the real thing when Emily was only a two minute walk away from my own flat?

_Be there in 2. E, xx._

Thankfully, Emily felt the same way.

I quickly rushed around my room and tidied up a bit before taking my bra off as quickly as I could without taking off my t-shirt. I slipped my bra through my sleeve and tossed it carelessly into my closet before shutting the closet doors. I ran into the living room to find Effy still sat in the middle of throw pillows and examining fabric samples.

"Holy shit, tits mcgee, where's the fire?" Effy asked as she eyed up my see through white t-shirt.

"Emily's coming over for a shag, you should probably go to sleep and put your headphones on or something."

Effy nodded sagely and gathered up her laptop and fabric samples.

"Happy cumming," She called out as she walked into her bedroom and shut the door.

At almost the same time that Effy shut her bedroom door, there was a soft knock at the front door to the flat. I walked over swiftly, mussing my hair up as I passed a mirror, and opened the door to reveal a frazzled looking Emily. Her eyes were dark with lust as they raked over my body. She smiled.

"Are you going to invite me in or are we going to fuck on the doorstep?" She said boldly.

"Come in."

She stepped inside the flat quickly and placed her palm between my breasts, pushing me against the wall forcefully. She kicked the door closed and grabbed my hands, placing them above my head as she kissed me roughly. Her hands trailed down my arms and descended to my breasts, where she groped me.

"We have to be quiet," I said breathlessly as Emily's lips left my own to trail down my neck. "My roommate's here."

Emily murmured her acknowledgement against my skin as her tongue darted out to taste the flesh of my chest. Her hands lifted my top up and worked it over my head, though she was careful to hold onto it and not just drop it anywhere since we were still in the entranceway. Her mouth closed around one of my nipples as one of her hands pinched and teased my other nipple into a peak. She wrapped her other arm, which was still holding my shirt, around my waist and pulled me away from the wall.

"Where am I going?" She whispered as she broke her lips away from my breast. Her lips worked their way back up to my own as she awaited my response.

"To the room on the right."

Emily lead me into my own bedroom and was careful to shut the door behind us. She flung my shirt somewhere into the room as soon as she closed the door. Emily was quick to start taking off her own clothes and I took note and started taking my own clothes off too. Emily grabbed me by the waist and pushed me onto the mattress as soon as we were both undressed.

All the awkwardness from earlier was completely forgotten as Emily kissed and worshipped my body in complete silence. Normally, we were both much more vocal, but tonight Emily's silence and my own silence seemed to mean something more.

Our hands entwined as Emily made her way further down my body. She placed herself between my legs and licked at me tentatively. I squeezed her hand tightly as the movements of her tongue sent shockwaves through my nerves. She squeezed back while she remembered all my favourite spots. Her tongue pressed gently against my clit while she worked her fingers inside me torturously slowly. She murmured against me while I moaned quietly in an effort not to break our silence. I could hear everything Emily was doing, every breath she took, and it was driving me crazy.

My legs and stomach began to quiver and I knew it wasn't long before I came, and Emily seemed to know that too. She pushed her fingers into me more forcefully, and on each pull outwards, she would curl her fingers and send me closer to the edge. She murmured against me and though I couldn't understand what she was saying, the vibrations of her low, husky voice against my cunt was eventually what sent me hurtling over the edge.

Emily made me come like nobody I'd ever been with before. She got in my head while she was fucking me, and somehow that made it all better. Usually, I'd fantasize about someone attractive to help things move along; a celebrity or a model or a Kardashian. A Kardashian would usually do the trick (can you blame me? Those curves kept me awake many a night). But Emily fucked me body and mind and, I was worried to say, soul. She made me feel connected to her in ways that meant I didn't need a Kardashian to fantasize about to make me come, and I didn't need to finish the job myself after my lover had left, and I didn't need to worry about if we were on different wavelengths and wanted different things from this. Emily and I were completely in tune.

Emily slithered up next to me and kissed me filthily. I loved how she would kiss me while I could still taste myself on her.

"Well...no squirting this time, but I'm determined to bring that lovely gift back sometime soon," Emily said as she laid down half on top of me. She started to play with my breasts while she waited for me to come down.

"What exactly is your fascination with my tits? They're just like any other pair," I giggled as Emily continued to pinch and lick and kiss at my breasts.

"They're just fucking amazing," Emily replied. "And they're not just _any_ tits. They're _yours_."

"Oh god, you soppy git."

Emily leaned up and smiled at me.

"I suppose," She replied before straddling me and kissing me again. "But I think it's time for you to explore your fascination with my tits now."

That was all the encouragement I needed to gather every last bit of strength in me after that orgasm and flip us over so I was on top.

"I want you to make me come, Naomi," Emily begged as I licked and sucked at her breasts and plunged my fingers into her sopping wet pussy.

So I wasted no time doing exactly that.

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**Author's Note: Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought! I will reply to each one (I PROMISE) even though I know I've also been bad about replying to reviews. Once again, I'm so sorry to have left you hanging.**

**SIDE NOTE: If any of you read As It Was Made To Be, I will be posting a monster update sometime this month. And when I say monster, I mean monster. Like 10 000+ words.**


	8. Peaceful Assembly III

**Author's Note: Thanks so much to those who have reviewed and those who continue to read this story despite my lacklustre updating skills! This was meant to be out last Friday (not as in yesterday's Friday, but the Friday BEFORE that) but exams and studying and work and life and planning vacations to Paris happened. I apologize immensely! Hopefully, this chapter makes up for it. It's longer than I usually post because I'm currently procrastinating studying for my last exam on Monday, and as such, turns out I become a very productive writer when I'm procrastinating real life things. So, good for you guys but not so great for my final marks! **

******Also, for those of you who also read As It Was Made To Be, you'll know that I promised an update for the end of April. I'm still hoping to get that out to you, but it might be a bit difficult considering I'm going to Paris quite soon (yay!) That should hopefully get my writing juices flowing! **

**This is the final part of the Peaceful Assembly part of this story. Finally. **

**And as usual I don't own Skins.**

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Chapter 8: Peaceful Assembly Part III

The next morning, I woke up laying naked next to an also naked Emily. It was a jarring experience, since we actually didn't get much sleep and I'm quite sure I'd only actually been asleep for 3 hours. The alarm on my phone that I'd set last night before Emily came over was what woke us up. Emily looked around curiously when she woke up, and I did much the same. My room was littered with clothes and shoes that Emily and I had frantically taken off last night. Emily probably wasn't so worried about the clothes, but instead probably felt a bit shocked at just how empty my room was. My mattress was the only piece of furniture in the room, and the only other things in the room were my clothes, stacks of books, my laptop, and my cell phone.

I shut the alarm on my phone off and turned to Emily, who was still taking in her surroundings.

"Pretty empty, right?" I asked as I turned to her and kissed her shoulder gently. Emily nodded.

"It is, but I like it. It's simple," She replied as she leaned away from me slightly to expose her neck to my lips. "But don't you want to buy some furniture and put down some roots? You know, make this a home instead of just a flat?"

I shrugged. Growing up the way I did, shuffled around from place to place, house to house, family to family, concepts of "home" were alien to me. I haven't felt at home since I was 10 and I wasn't sure if I could ever feel at home again.

"Maybe," I found myself saying. I don't know why I said that though. I suppose I didn't want to talk to Emily about why I didn't want to make anywhere my home. I wasn't sure if we were at a place in our relationship where confessing about the darkness of our pasts was appropriate. So instead, I focused on kissing her neck and hoping that it was distracting enough to put an end to this conversation.

"Mmm...what's for breakfast?" Emily asked.

"Uhh... Effy and I don't really do breakfast, other than tea and biscuits."

"That sounds lovely," Emily replied as she stretched, letting the sheet fall to her lap, leaving her breasts exposed. "I should probably put something on first though."

I got out of bed and grabbed two oversized shirts for Emily and I. Though I'd much rather leave Emily naked, I knew Effy probably wouldn't appreciate us walking around naked.

Emily and I put on our shirts and ventured out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. Effy was sitting on the countertop, next to the kettle. She flicked the kettle on when she saw us.

"Hi, I'm Emily," Emily said as she held her hand out for Effy to shake. Effy smiled at her and quirked an eyebrow at me before shaking Emily's hand.

"Effy," She replied simply. "Tea?

Emily nodded shyly and looked around for somewhere to sit. Since we had no furniture, it posed a bit of a problem. But Effy noticed and scooted over slightly to make room for Emily on the counter while I fussed around getting the tea ready.

Effy reached behind her into a cupboard and pulled out garibaldis for me and digestives for herself. Emily would have to make due with whichever she preferred because that was all we had in the house really, other than milk and leftover takeaway.

Effy wordlessly handed Emily the packet of digestives.

"Thanks," Emily replied. Effy smiled.

I handed Eff and Emily their cups of tea and grabbed a few garibaldis for myself.

"What time will you be home tonight, Eff?" I asked. Effy shrugged.

"Shouldn't be too busy today. Why?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. If Emily and I didn't end up being too late at this stupid bloody protest, maybe we could all head out for drinks or something. I found myself intrigued by the possibilities of introducing Emily to my mates, even though the only "mate" she hadn't yet met was Cook, since Effy and Cook are pretty much the only people I speak to. But I didn't want to say anything just yet. I wanted it to seem organic and natural and not forced. If we just all happened to end up back here at the same time then maybe we could go for drinks. Yes, not forced at all. Just coincidental really.

That would work best. I didn't want Emily to think that we were moving towards some kind of commitment, especially if she didn't want that sort of thing. But I didn't want her to think that I was ashamed of her or something and that I didn't want her to meet my mates. So I was caught between a rock and a hard place, and apparently, having Emily accidentally meet my friends seemed like the easiest way to get out of this conundrum.

We finished up the rest of our breakfast pretty quietly. Emily was busy checking e-mails on her phone and Effy was busy staring me down. I don't know why she was staring at me though. I kept shooting her quizzical glances but would only get a sly smile in return, which inevitably would make me roll my eyes.

Despite Effy's prying eyes, Emily and I eventually finished our breakfast and managed to get ready for the day in some peace. Effy had left for work about half an hour before we left for the protest.

"Do you need to go back to your flat for anything?" I asked as Emily got ready for the day. She was using mostly my borrowed makeup and clothes, which I was perfectly fine with. It was kinda hot seeing her in my clothes. She was wearing one of my shirts, since she refused to wear a pair of my pants because they were far too long on her.

"No, I'm okay. I brought pretty much everything I need for today with me last night when I came over here. So we can just go straight to the protest as soon as I'm done," Emily replied as I watched her apply her mascara. She smiled at me. "Don't you need to get dressed?"

I looked down and noticed that I was indeed, still wearing the oversized shirt I threw on this morning just before breakfast. I'd spent so bloody long watching Emily get ready that I'd forgotten to get ready myself.

"Uh, yes. Yes, I suppose I should," I replied as I shuffled out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. I heard Emily laugh as I closed the door to my bedroom and began the frantic search of clean clothes to wear.

Since Effy and I are lazy motherfuckers, we wait to do laundry until we run out of clean underwear, which is slightly problematic. Today meant I was on my last pair of clean knickers. I grabbed my phone and texted Effy to let her know that tomorrow was going to be spent in the laundromat.

Once I was finally dressed in an unimpressive ensemble consisting of jeans, a white t-shirt, and an old pair of converse, I left the room to find Emily waiting for me in the living room. She was sat crosslegged on the floor, with her chin resting on her hands.

"Ready?" She asked. I nodded and grabbed my wallet and keys.

I helped Emily off my living room floor and we left the flat. We headed towards the nearest tube station and were granted a peaceful, quick journey, which is rare for the morning commute in London. We even had enough time to grab a coffee before heading over to the group of women who'd already gathered in Trafalgar Square. A very small number of reporters and journalists and camera crews were already there, and Emily quickly made her position at Amnesty known to them. Before I knew it, we were being interviewed, though I use "we" loosely because I, as promised, pretended not to speak English so I wouldn't fuck things up.

"And your name, miss?" The reporter asked me. Emily turned to me with a smile.

"Janice Dimerche," I lied. "Je ne parle pas anglais."

"Ohh, I see. Est-ce qu'il y a quelque chose que vous aimeriez dire pour les personnes Français à regarder ce programme?" The reporter asked me with a smile. I was taken aback. I did not expect him to speak French as well as English. _Should've chosen a lesser known language, Naomi,_ I chastised silently.

"Uhhhhh...non."

Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant. I was now making a tit of myself on potentially international TV. Just. Fucking. Brilliant.

I could tell Emily was about to piss herself laughing so we decided to end the interview at that point.

"Oh, excuse moi, madame, mais est-ce qu'il y a quelque chose que vous aimeriez dire pour les personnes Francais a regarder ce programme? Oh, NON!" Emily laughed once we were far away enough from the reporter.

"Piss off," I replied while Emily continued laughing her ass off.

"You should've pretended to be mute, not foreign!"

After Emily was finished poking fun at me (or at least, after Emily had decided to postpone poking fun at me for the time being) we managed to actually pay attention to the protest. The chants of angry women surrounded me alongside the homemade signs and bulletins many women brought with them.

"Ahh, nothing like a good old feminist protest to start the weekend," I said with a smile. Emily looked at me quizzically.

"What?" She asked. I smiled.

"I used to go to these things all the time. When I was growing up, mum always took me to environmental protests. Then when I went to uni, I started focusing on social issues protests. I actually organized quite a few protests back then. Sometimes I used to go to protests almost every day of the week."

Emily smiled. "Yeah, you seem the type. Always ready to moan about something. You must suffer from 'I-don't-ever-want-to-shut-my-mouthism' just like my sister, Katie."

I smiled and smacked her arm. "Oi, watch it."

Emily smiled back at me but her gaze was diverted to something over my shoulder.

"Speak of the devil," She whispered as she waved at somebody behind me. "Katie!"

I turned around to see a carbon copy of Emily walking towards us.

"You're a twin?" I asked. I had to admit, I was pretty shocked. Seeing two Emilys in the same place was a bit overwhelming.

"Yeah," Emily said. "But we're not much alike."

Katie finally reached us and only then did I notice the baby strapped to her chest and the small child holding onto her hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Katie," Katie said as she held out her hand. She spoke with a slight lisp, definitely different than Emily. Her lips were a bit fuller, nose a bit rounder, face a bit rounder as well. Katie in general was just more plump and round than Emily.

"Hi, I'm Naomi, Emily's assistant," I replied as I tried not to notice while the child attached to Katie's chest started to pull on my t-shirt. Katie chuckled and thankfully removed the baby's hand from my person.

"This is Olivia," Katie spoke as she pointed to the kid on her chest. "And this is Luke."

Luke looked up at me, but didn't say a word. He did move to hug Emily though.

"Well...uh...that's nice," I replied. Katie's brow furrowed in confusion, though she was still smiling.

"Don't you like kids?" Katie asked me. Her daughter had reached over and started playing with my watch.

"Um, not particularly," I replied as I tried to remove the baby's hand from my wrist, which was quite difficult since her hands were covered in her own drool and very slippery. Emily was, once again, trying to contain her laughter at my horrible social awkwardness. "Uh, do you think you could, uh, get her hand off me?"

Katie laughed as she took Olivia's hand off my watch.

"Sorry, she's just obsessed with touching everything right now, you should see what she's like when we go to Tesco's," Katie said as Luke started poking his finger through a hole in my jeans. She didn't notice as Olivia boldly grabbed my wrist and started sucking on my hand.

"Jesus," I nearly shrieked as Olivia slobbered all over my hand. "You should really tell her that it's unsanitary to lick people. What if she licked a homeless person on the tube?"

Katie laughed again and turned to Emily while she extracted my hand from Olivia's mouth.

"Jesus, Emily, where the hell did you find this one?" Katie asked. Emily smiled.

"Believe it or not, she's highly qualified," Emily replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Emily," I replied.

"Oh no, I _believe_ she's qualified. She just doesn't seem like much of a people-person. Not the type of person who'd work at Amnesty International," Katie said before turning to me. "No offense, Naomi."

"None taken. Most of the work I have to do is over the phone and computer, so I rarely have to deal with the people I advocate for. Also, they usually don't slobber on me or stick their fingers in the holes of my jeans," I replied as I looked down at Luke, who looked ashamed and went to stand by his mum again.

"Anyway, Katie, what are you doing here anyway?" Emily asked. Katie ran her fingers through Luke's unruly hair.

"Actually, I'm not _here. _Like not at this protest thing. I was on my way to Covent Garden. We were going to watch some street performers and have some lunch, weren't we, Lukie?"

Luke nodded, though he kept staring up at me curiously. Katie smiled at me again.

"Anyway, we better be going. I'll phone you soon, yeah, Ems? We can arrange dinner some time. I know Luke wants to play with his favourite auntie!" Katie said, looking down at Luke and obviously trying to get some kind of reaction out of her son. He didn't deliver. Emily smiled down at him and leant down to kiss him on the cheek before kissing the slobbering baby as well.

"Okay, K, that sounds good," Emily said. Katie waved as she and Luke made their way towards covent garden. Emily waved back.

"So..." Emily said, turning to me with a smile. "Not so good with kids, eh?"

"That baby had the worst manners ever."

"Naomi, she's six months old. What did you expect her to do? Apologize for slobbering on your hand?" Emily asked as she rolled her eyes at me.

"Well hopefully she won't do it again. Or I won't have to see her again. Or by the next time I see her, she'll be a teenager. Now, teenagers, I can handle."

"Maybe you can handle them because you still are one," Emily replied. I rolled my eyes at that statement and ignored how teenager-like rolling my eyes felt.

Emily and I turned our attention back to the protest, which was seeming to get a bit out of hand.

"Uh, this isn't looking too good," Emily said as we noticed cop cars pulling into the area. She was right. The protest was about to move into a full blown riot. As I reached for my cell phone, I noticed how closed in Emily and I were. We were surrounded by angry women on all sides. I grabbed onto Emily's hand tightly.

"Don't let go," I said as I began to dial Effy's number and started to push my way through the crowd.

"Hello?" Effy's bored voice answered the call.

"Eff, Emily and I are stuck in the protest and things are getting bad. Can you send a car to meet us somewhere? We're at Trafalgar Square and I'm trying to get us out but it's gotten really bad."

"I'll send Cook to meet you at St James Square. He can be there in 5 minutes. Get moving," Effy replied before hanging up.

I pulled Emily through the crowd, focused on just getting the fuck out of here, though I noticed she was lagging behind quite a bit. I tossed a glance over my shoulder to make sure she was okay when I noticed she had her hand over her face, and that her hand was covered in blood.

"What the fuck happened?" I shouted over my shoulder.

"Somebody elbowed me in the nose. I think it might be broken," Emily replied. She coughed after she was done talking and cringed. It was obviously bleeding so badly that talking made her swallow some of the blood.

I pulled her even faster as we finally began to break through the crowd. Cops were already moving in and trying to disperse the crowd that seemed to be growing at an alarming rate. This wasn't like the protests I was used to. None of my protests ever ended up being violent or broken up by police. For the first time, I felt scared at a protest. But surprisingly, I wasn't scared for myself. I was scared for the redhead trailing behind me with a potentially broken nose. It was jarring and scary in itself, feeling scared for another person. But I couldn't focus on that right now. I had to focus on getting Emily help.

Emily and I walked as quickly as we could to St James Square, which only took about 5 minutes, but those minutes were agonizing. Emily was dripping blood onto her shirt and the sidewalk and there wasn't a single thing I could do to stop the bleeding. I wasn't a medical professional. I didn't know how to handle this stuff.

We spotted Cook as soon as we got there. He must've been waiting for us.

"Shit man," He said as we got in the car. "The fuck happened to her face?"

"She got elbowed while we were trying to get out. Could you just take us to A&E? She needs to get this looked at."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Emily sputtered, coughing as she swallowed more blood. "I'm Emily."

"Polite even when she's in agony. Nice one. I'm Cook."

And that is how Cook and Emily met for the first time. Not under ideal circumstances by any means, but it sure as fuck was natural and organic just like I'd wanted.

"Emily, no offense, but I'm never going to a protest with you ever again," I said as Cook drove us to the nearest hospital.

"Me too," Emily replied.

When we finally got to the hospital, we had to wait a while before Emily was even seen by a doctor. She insisted on going in alone. That left me some time to gather my thoughts and really freak out over the realization that I cared enough about Emily's well being to worry for her.

"So, this is the boss?" Cook asked. I looked at him quizzically. "The one you told me about on our night out, remember?"

I couldn't remember, but it wasn't out of the question for me to have spilled my guts to Cook.

"Not really," I replied. Cook smiled.

"The one you fucked twice and couldn't get outta your head," He said as he looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Suppose you still can't get her out of your head."

"Nope. I think she might be in there permanently. And we've fucked more than twice now."

"You're in it deep, Naomi," Cook replied, though he was smiling. "Breaking all the rules now, aren't ya? I mean, fucking the boss is one thing. But fucking the boss and caring about it afterwards? S'not like you."

My brow furrowed as I contemplated his words. He was right. I never cared about anything or anybody other than Cook and Effy. Now, I also care about Emily. It was the first time something that was meant to be a one night stand ended up turning into real, genuine feelings for someone. Someone that just happened to be my boss.

"Yeah. I know. It isn't like me," I replied.

"It's good though, Naomi. Not caring about things isn't real, man. Everybody cares eventually."

"Even you, Cook?"

"Yeah, mate. Even me. I fucking love you, man. And Eff as well. It sneaks up on you, don't it? Caring."

I nodded. "Yeah. It does."

Emily walked out of the emergency room and into the waiting room with a smile on her face and a splint on her nose.

"Good news," Emily said as she walked over to us. "It's broken but it isn't too bad. It wasn't crooked or anything and I don't need surgery. They just stopped the bleeding, put this thing on it, and gave me pain pills. Apparently, I shouldn't operate heavy machinery while taking these."

I smiled and surprisingly, hugged her.

"What was that for?" Emily asked with a smile.

"Just glad you're all right," I replied, blushing slightly. I caught Cook smiling and waggling his eyebrows at me. I shot him a stern look.

"Can you take us back to the flat?" I asked. Cook nodded.

"Sure, s'not like I'm meant to be at work, protecting people in harm's way. Nope. Not me," He replied. I smacked him on the arm and Emily laughed. "Emilio, think can you drink while taking them pills?"

"Probably not...why?"

"Well, I suggest we all have a drink round Naomi and Effy's tonight, including you, Emilio man! Even if you can't drink, I'm sure that rule can be bent."

Emily laughed. "Sure, we should all have drinks tonight. But only at Naomi and Effy's because there is no way I'm going out looking like this," She replied as she pointed to the splint on her nose.

"You look fine," I said. Emily rolled her eyes at me.

"Yeah right, you're just saying that because you're hoping to get lucky tonight," Emily replied, before her eyes went wide and turned towards Cook. Cook laughed.

"Naoms, you got some kinky nurse fetish or summat?" He asked between laughs. Emily looked dumbfounded.

"He knows already, Emily," I said with a laugh. She eased slightly and moved to lean into my side.

"Okay. But more importantly, _do_ you have a kinky nurse fetish, Naomi?" Emily asked. I turned to her with a cheeky grin.

"You'll find out tonight."

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**Author's Note: Please don't forget to let me know what you thought in a review! :)**


	9. Part 3: Privacy, Family & Correspondence

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for the awesome reviews and for continuing to read! It's been a while since my last update, but in my defence, I was in another country and very busy exploring the beauty of Paris! It was a lovely trip but I am super happy to be back in the swing of things and continuing to update. **

**Also, I've recreated my tumblr page because I've got a lot more free time now, so go on and follow me at keeping-schtum dot tumblr dot com **

**And as usual, I don't own Skins.**

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**Part 3: Privacy, Family, Home, and Correspondence**

_No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks._

_ - _Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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Chapter 9: Privacy

_Emily_

Later that night, just as Cook promised, we were all to be found on Naomi and Effy's living room floor, drinking. I was in a fuckload of pain earlier, but thankfully painkillers exist, and now that I was on painkillers and was also drunk, I was quite pain free. Naomi was also helping take my mind off the likely horrendous state of my face.

Naomi was very drunk and apparently very drunk Naomi is synonymous with very horny Naomi. I'd never known Naomi to be a very handsy type of person, especially in front of people, but tonight she was all over me. Leaning into my side, holding my hand, "accidentally" grazing my boob, kissing my neck. I certainly wasn't complaining though. Maybe handsy, drunk, horny Naomi should make more frequent appearances, if you ask me.

Cook and Effy were in the middle of regaling us with some of their finest party moments so far, for many of which Naomi was present or a key player in their shenanigans. I was wildly interested in hearing about what Naomi was like when she was in uni and younger. Their stories were honestly hardly believable until I remembered that this was fucking Cook, Effy and Naomi. That combination of people was bound to get into some trouble.

"So then we ended up in some fucking field in the middle of Glastonbury," Effy explained as Cook nodded enthusiastically and Naomi buried her face in my shoulder and continued to kiss my neck. Naomi hardly had it in her to even bother to listen to the retelling of these stories. Again, not that I was complaining.

"In the middle of fucking nowhere. Literally. And then some old fucking fart pops out the woods – with a fucking axe no less! - and who does he just happen to be friends with? Our dear Naomi here!" Effy finished. She smirked at the memory.

"I wouldn't say that he and I were _friends_, Eff," Naomi said into my neck. Effy shrugged and took another shot.

Cook laughed at the memory. "Naoms, you always knew the weirdest people."

Naomi stopped kissing my neck and rested her head against my shoulder, so she was now looking at Effy and Cook.

"Yeah, but it turned out to be a good thing that I knew him! It was through him that we found that cabin to sleep in that night!"

"How on earth did this guy know where to find an empty cabin for you lot to sleep in?" I asked Naomi. She smiled and kissed me instead of answering my question.

"Well, he was homeless," Effy replied. "He knew a whole bunch of abandoned places all around the South West where he could sleep."

"And how did you know a homeless person?" I asked. Naomi shrugged, but Cook gave me my answer.

"Naoms was always runnin' away from home. Sometimes she'd go two, maybe three weeks on the streets before they'd bring her back home," Cook replied as he took another drink. "We both hated it in them houses."

I looked at Naomi questioningly. Questions were racing through my mind – why did Naomi and Cook live together? Were they siblings? I doubted that very much, though. Their relationship didn't seem like a brother-sister relationship. And why did they hate it so much at their home? Were they abused? And what exactly would Naomi do while she was on the streets for two or three weeks at a time? Effy caught my gaze, but for once, didn't smirk at me. Her eyes shifted to Naomi, and I shifted my own gaze down to her. Her face had changed, gotten harder, darker, more guarded. She wasn't looking at me anymore. In fact, she wasn't looking at anything or anyone. She was staring down at the floor and her brows were creased, but whether they were creased in pain or concentration, I wasn't sure.

"You might not think it to look at her now, but this one pulled some -" Cook started to say before Naomi interrupted him.

"Leave it, Cook," Naomi said with her hard face and equally hard stare. Cook shut up right away. Effy got up right away to get more vodka and beers, which were our drinks of choice for the night.

"Sorry, Naoms, I was just sayin'. Thought you'd probably told her all about it, you know," Cook said with an apologetic look. Naomi leaned closer into me and held my hand.

It was eerie to be discussed as though I wasn't even there.

"I haven't," She replied quietly.

Effy came back with the drinks just in time. I eagerly accepted another beer, not wanting to think about what I'd heard anymore. In fact, I think I'd prefer it if I forgot it entirely. But it seemed, as the night wore on, that no matter how much I drank, nothing was able to push Cook's words from my mind. I found my thoughts lingering on a teenaged Naomi, living on the streets, doing god knows what to get by, living with Cook, and being a troublemaker. But I couldn't for the life of me understand why. Don't kids usually have reasons to run away from home? What was Naomi's reason?

Effy and Cook went to bed just before Naomi and I headed into her room. I found it a bit odd that Effy and Cook went to bed together, since I didn't think they were in a relationship, and filed that away as a question I should ask Naomi if I managed to remember.

We peeled our clothes off and Naomi took care of me gently as she helped me take off my shirt so as not to bump against my injured nose. She kissed me tenderly, in a way I don't think she's ever kissed me before, as we fell into bed together. She ran her fingers over my lips, my chin, my jaw, my neck. Her lips followed gently. But these kisses weren't the start of something; I could tell Naomi didn't want to have sex tonight. I wasn't sure if the sight of my bandaged face repulsed her in some way or if she just genuinely wasn't in the mood.

But her kisses and the tenderness behind them made me feel adored. It was a strange feeling to be on the receiving end of, especially when the giver was Naomi. I didn't take her to be the emotional type. And I could tell that she was feeling emotional. She was all over the place – a moment ago, she was tender and loving, and now she was shaking and breathing heavily, as though she was fighting off a panic attack. I ran my fingers through her hair gently in an attempt to soothe her as she breathed heavily into my skin.

"Are you alright?" I asked into the complete darkness of the room. I felt her breathe heavily against my skin again.

"I'm just scared," She replied. She leaned in closer to me and I held her tighter instinctively. I didn't want Naomi to be scared of anything, especially not if I was around to help her.

"Of what?" I asked.

"You."

"There's no need. I'm not scary."

Naomi murmured into my skin. It sounded something like an "mmmm" noise as she leaned into my chest.

"You're terrifying," She replied as she kissed my breast tenderly once again. She seemed no longer anxious. It was a good sign, I suppose. I held her a while longer, letting her calm down entirely. She was holding me as tightly as I was holding her. This closeness we had between us right now, it was completely unprecedented. Even when I was going down on her, I'd never felt as close to Naomi as I did right now.

"Cook and I, we first met when we were put in foster care. We were both fostered to the same family at the same time. I don't think they normally do that, in fact, I don't think they're even _supposed_ to do that, but it was what happened for us. I think eventually, the social workers started to think we were brother and sister. We were best mates, and we did everything together. Completely inseparable. But we were little shits. Most of the families didn't want to put up with us, and some of them were so horrible to us. They'd hit us or not give us food or anywhere to sleep. So Cook and I, we'd run away together a lot. When the cops would find us they'd take us to some different family. Some of those families treated us like charity projects. Like one day I was just supposed to give up who I really was and all I'd seen and all I'd done just to be normal like they wanted. And the ones that didn't treat us like charity projects...well, I wouldn't even treat a dog I didn't like as badly as some of them treated us. I don't know which ones were worse; the ones who treated me like I was shit, or the ones who treated me like I was golden.

"But Cook was always there for me, through thick and thin. I love him. He _is_ like a brother to me. He's family. The only..._real_ family I've got. And Effy, well, it took ages for me to even think of her as a friend, but now she's like my family too. I love them both and I'd do anything for them."

"What does this have to do with me?" I asked.

"I'm telling you why I'm scared of you," Naomi whispered. "How drunk are you?"

"I don't know," I replied. "Very drunk."

"Will you remember this in the morning?"

"Maybe," I said. I wasn't sure where she was going with this, but I was intrigued.

Naomi nodded against my chest.

"I...I've not felt..._like this_...for anyone ever before. Something about you is different."

"What do you mean?" I asked. My heart had seemingly stopped in my chest. This was beyond anything I'd ever expected from Naomi. This whole emotional confession thing didn't seem to be her style. And to be honest, I didn't quite know how to feel about it just yet.

"I _care_ about you," She said. Her voice caught on the word _care._

Her admission wasn't anything near as grand as I'd expected, but it still caught me off guard. Naomi really didn't seem to care about anything or anyone other than Cook and Effy, and I knew it took them years to earn that care and trust. So naturally, for Naomi to admit that she cared about me, it was actually starting to make sense why she was also terrified of me. I was an anomaly. This had never happened to her before. And because she cared about me so quickly, so much faster than she'd ever cared about anyone else, it also meant that I had more power to hurt her than anybody ever before.

But I wasn't like Naomi. I wasn't afraid to care about people. And that's why it felt so easy for me to tell her how I felt.

"I care about you too, Naomi," I said. Naomi nodded against me.

"I know that," She replied. "Do you think you'll remember this in the morning?"

"I don't know. I hope so."

"I don't," Naomi whispered.

"Why not?"

"I don't want you to have that kind of power over me."

And though her words were harsh and kind of hurtful, she moved closer towards me and her breath still flowed over the skin of my breasts, where she'd buried her head and was listening to my heartbeat as it lulled her to sleep. We were close in a way that we'd never been before. I was genuinely starting to care about Naomi. Fuck, I was starting to think I was beginning to fall in love with her. Things weren't just sexual anymore. I wanted to understand Naomi. I wanted to tame the beast within her; I wanted her to want to settle down with me. To build some roots with me. And most importantly, I didn't want her to be afraid of me or to see me as just another person with the potential to hurt her or use her feelings against her.

I still had questions; questions about just exactly what happened to make Naomi end up in foster care, questions about what exactly she'd done while she was on the streets, and questions about why she didn't want me to know the answers to all my questions. But right now wasn't the time to ask any of these questions, because I knew I wouldn't get an answer. And I also knew that asking those questions would scare Naomi even more than she already was.

For a moment, I put myself in Naomi's shoes. Or rather, I _tried_ to put myself in them. And I tried my hardest to understand why she didn't want to trust me or care about eventually I did understand why she wouldn't want that. Something deep inside Naomi told her that caring about people would inevitably end up causing her pain. Naomi had learnt not to trust or care about anyone for her own good, though I didn't know what could've been horrible enough to make her feel that way. And I found myself not wanting to understand what that horrible thing might have been. And I found myself hoping that I would forget the words Naomi had just whispered to me in the peace of darkness, just so that we could both rest easy and not worry about what her words meant. So that Naomi could rest easy and eventually stop fearing me, and stop fearing what it meant to care about somebody. And so that I could be granted enough time to show Naomi that caring for someone did not always necessarily equate to pain.

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**Author's Note: Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought!**


	10. Family

**Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the amazing reviews and for continuing to read this story. I'm so horribly sorry that it's been such a long time since the last update. I was out of the country for quite some time and have only just returned exactly one week ago. I've been working on this chapter since then. I hope you enjoy the update.**

**As usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins. Especially not after Fire, also known as the episodes that should not be discussed...ever.**

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Chapter 10: Family

The next morning, I woke up _without_ a massive hangover, but _with_ Emily's legs wrapped around me. It was strange and somewhat unexpected. Her arm was thrown over my stomach and she was snoring gently. My head felt as though it was about to split in half but I knew I had to move and get out of bed – mostly because I really had to pee, but also because I wanted to get away from Emily for a moment.

I certainly remembered everything from last night, though I wasn't sure Emily did. I didn't want her to remember all my confessions. I'd been sloppy last night and I'd let her in far more than I'd expected. Between confessing to her about living in foster care to admitting that I cared about her quite deeply, I'd made a complete mess of things. What if Emily didn't want this? What if _I _didn't want this?

Emily had made absolutely no form of commitment to me, nor I her. So what exactly was keeping us together at this point? Was it the mindblowing sex?

I sighed and pulled myself out of bed and towards the bathroom, leaving Emily in bed for the time being while I sorted my head out. My thoughts were swarming my head and this fear of what I'd done last night kept gnawing away at my insides. Had I fucked everything up?

I know Emily said that she cared about me too last night, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Emily had been very drunk, very, _very_ drunk, so she wasn't really a reliable source of information. And besides, she could care about me, I think normal people care about people/stuff all the time. But for me, caring about someone goes deeper than that. It means something profound to me, to care about someone.

After finishing up in the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I returned back to bed and just watched Emily as she slept. In a way, I wish she was awake so that I wouldn't be overthinking things right now. I wish she would just wake up and kiss me and fuck me and push all these thoughts out of my head. Except maybe not even fuck me, maybe just kiss me and hold me tight and that would be enough to push all these thoughts out of my head.

But Emily was still snoring and seemingly far from waking up. So, I decided to suck it up and grow a pair of fucking balls and get on with my day.

I grabbed my dirty laundry, which was scattered all over my bedroom, and began to put it in mine and Effy's laundry bags. We absolutely had to do laundry today or I wouldn't even have a pair of clean knickers to wear during my business trip later this week.

I threw on a really old pair of track pants and a baggy t-shirt and popped into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. The flat was still completely silent, and for a moment I wondered what the fuck time it was for everybody to still be sleeping. Effy was usually an early morning kind of person, but I suppose we drank enough last night to put _anybody_ out for the count. I fetched my garibaldis from the cupboard and sat in the middle of the living room with my cup of tea and biscuits. I had a mental checklist running in my head of things that Effy and I would need to buy for the flat in the very near future. A couch, a TV, a coffee table, a dinner table, chairs...maybe even a bookshelf or something decorative like a lamp.

Effy swayed out of her bedroom a few moments later, looking calm and composed and also like absolute shit. She motioned for me to get up and make her a cup of tea in a signage that only Effy and I could possibly understand. I suppose that's what happens when you live with someone for years. I didn't say a word and did as Effy requested.

I handed her the cup of tea and passed her the pack of digestive biscuits that she likes. She winced at the sight of food, but kept it near her anyway.

"Laundry day today," I said quietly. Effy sighed and nodded. Laundry shouldn't be too taxing for someone that's hung over, since most of the time is spent sitting around waiting for the clothes to be done washing.

Effy had four more cups of tea before Cook woke up and took a shower, and by the time Cook had finished showering, Emily woke up.

"Did we drink all of London dry last night or something?" She mumbled as she walked into the room clutching her head. She was wearing one of my baggy shirts and was all legs and fuck me she looked hot. Effy caught me perving on Emily and smiled to herself.

"Cuppa?" I asked Emily as she came to sit down next to me. She was maintaining her distance this morning, nothing like last night where she was hanging off me. Or was I hanging off her? Bit difficult to remember actually.

Emily nodded at me and Effy handed her the pack of biscuits. Cook popped out of Effy's bedroom, dressed in clean clothes and all, and asked me to make him a cup of tea as well.

"Cook, since when did you start keeping clean clothes here?" I asked curiously as I eyed his rather smart looking ensemble. "And why are you dressed so nice?"

"Well it's mostly my work clothes I keep 'ere. Been doin' it ever since Eff and I started shaggin' on the regular, right Eff?" Cook replied. Effy shrugged.

"I didn't really notice to be honest," She said.

"Oh," I replied while my brain processed the information that Effy and Cook were shagging. Bit odd, but not surprising in general. They were both actually quite well suited for each other.

I handed Cook his cup of tea and handed Emily her cup of tea. Effy got up and went to grab her dirty laundry.

"I need pants," Emily said as she glanced down at her bare legs.

"You sure?" Cook asked. "Cause personally, I think you're fine without them. Better than fine really. In fact, I'm not certain you ever need pants."

"I concur," I replied.

"Well I definitely need a pair of knickers if I'm going without pants," Emily replied with a smirk in my direction. Cook's eyes nearly bulged out his head and I caught him trying to steal a glance between Emily's legs.

"Oi, you! Don't even think about it!" I scolded. I turned to Emily and smiled. "In my opinion, knickers are also optional...for whenever Cook isn't around."

Emily smiled and headed into the kitchen to tidy up a bit. I shot Cook a warning glare and he shrugged at me.

"Can't blame a man for trying," He said.

"I can and I will! Emily is off limits to you, Cook," I whispered as harshly as I possibly could.

Cook nodded and Emily walked back into the living room and stood next to me.

"So about those pants..." She said with a smile. We went back into the bedroom and I dug around my closet in search of a pair of pants that would fit Emily.

I settled on some old jeans from when I was about 15 and roughly the same height as Emily. I handed them to her and she smiled. I tidied up my room and made the bed as she put them on.

"Naomi, what's that old looking box in the corner there?"

I froze.

"Uhhh...nothing really, just old bits and bobs. Stuff I kept like, uh, you know, old train stubs from when I first, uh, moved to London. Just old crap," I lied.

"Oh...didn't really take you for a sentimental type."

"Mmm," I replied.

_ Let it drop, let it drop, please, Emily, just let it drop._

I decided to change the subject quickly before Emily could ask if she could see what was in the box or something weird like that. I don't bloody know what she would ask, but I was scared she would make me lie more and I'm not a good liar really. I'm good at keeping secrets, but not so good at lying about them.

"Do you, you know, remember what we talked about last night?" I ventured. _Yes, Naomi, that's it, distract her by bringing up the huge motherfucking elephant in the room. This is definitely more comfortable than explaining what's in the bloody box, you twat._

Emily shifted uncomfortably as she did up the zip on the jeans.

"Yeah, I remember it all. You?"

"Yeah, I do, too...does this change anything?" I asked, biting my lip hesitantly. I wasn't sure if I wanted the truth here, especially if it meant that the answer would be 'yes'.

"I don't know. Not really, I suppose. I've cared about you for a while now," Emily replied nonchalantly. Like all of this was so easy for her. It just made it more obvious to me how fucked up it was that this was actually difficult for me.

"Okay. I just don't want to lose what we've got...whatever that is," I said. Emily smiled at me and walked towards me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me, her eyes searching mine.

"We won't. Do you want to hang out tonight?"

I smiled and nodded at her.

"Okay, sounds good. I'll even be able to put clean sheets on the bed tonight."

"Ooh, _fancy_!" Emily smiled before leaning up to kiss me gently. "I'll see you later."

And with that, Emily left the flat and presumedly headed back to hers.

I was so thankful to have Emily in my life at that moment. She didn't freak out or pressure me into a relationship or leave me, all of which were things I'd thought could happen after last night. But no, instead Emily just goes with the flow and lets things be.

It's at that moment that a thought enters my mind for the first, but not the last, time.

_Emily Fitch is perfect._

* * *

Later that morning, Effy and I finally made it to the laundromat. We got change for the machines and loaded up two machines each. Effy had popped to a corner shop to get some trashy magazines for us to read while we were waiting and I'd gone out to have a quick cigarette. When we regrouped and sat down in our chairs, surprisingly, neither one of us opted for the magazines.

"So you and Cook then?" I ventured. Effy nodded.

"Nothing serious," She replied. I knew that that was the extent of what I would get out of her on that subject. When Effy doesn't want to talk about something she makes it quite well known by her short responses.

"What about you and Emily then?"

"I dunno, things are fine. Nothing serious yet. We're not even really dating. I think we're still at the 'just shagging each other' stage. But I'm not fucking anybody else and I don't think she is. I don't know."

"Maybe you two should talk about that."

"Nah," I replied. "She's cool with it, I'm cool with it. Why change everything?"

"Things always change, Naomi," Effy replied. "You should get used to that."

While Effy had a point, certainly, I chose not to listen. Things with Emily and I can just stay where they are for the moment, thank you very much. I'm already freaking out enough with things the way they are. I dread to see what I'd be like if we declared ourselves "exclusive" or "girlfriends".

"You've not been down to Bristol in a while," Effy said quietly.

"Not today, Eff," I warned, fiddling with my packet of cigarettes and my lighter.

"I'm not letting it drop, Naoms," Effy replied firmly. "You need to go and see her."

The machines buzzed just then, much to my delight. I got up to take care of my laundry and Effy did the same.

"They phoned the other day on my cell. Said they couldn't reach you on yours. And that you hadn't been by in a long time and that she wants to see you. She asks about yo-"

"Effy!" I shouted as my heart raced so quickly that I could feel the pressure of it in my head. "Enough."

My hands were shaking as I tossed my wet clothes into two tumble dryers. I finished quickly though, faster than Effy, and went outside for a cigarette as soon as I started the dryers up. My hands were still shaking as I lifted the cigarette up to my lips and inhaled. They didn't stop shaking after the first cigarette, so I lit another. And another. And I smoked until I heard my machines buzz again. My throat hurt and my hands were still shaking and I reeked of smoke. I knew that when I would start to fold my nice, clean clothes, that they would surely end up smelling of smoke just like I did. And then all this washing, this entire fucking day, would be a complete waste.

I walked back into the laundromat and was about to get my clothes when Effy stopped me.

"Leave it. I'll do it," She said simply. It was her version of an apology. And I accepted and appreciated it.

Because after all, Effy had a point earlier on.

So I went home and locked myself in my room for a while. I went to my closet, and grabbed my box, and sat on my bed, which was completely stripped of sheets. I went through each thing I kept in that box, before finally getting to what I wanted.

I held the photo in my hand. A faded photograph, with creases and torn edges. But a photograph nonetheless. A blonde haired woman, with shoulder length hair that was curled slightly, sat in a rocking chair, holding a baby who was nuzzled in a pink blanket. I flipped it over and traced my fingers over the writing on the back.

_Naomi and Mummy_

It was one of three photos I had of my mum. They were the only three I could find when the police officers took me back to my house to gather all my things. They were the only ones I could reach when I was five years old, and I didn't know where mummy kept all the photo albums. I knew there were albums, big albums with photos of mum and me. Only the two of us because dad was always the one taking the photos.

I carefully put everything back into my box, keeping everything in its exact order and place while I fought off the tears at the thought of my mum. Effy was right earlier...

I was so deep in my own thoughts that I didn't hear Emily walk in to my room. I was just putting the photo of my mum back into the box when Emily announced herself.

"Hey, Naoms, I brought Chinese food," She said with a smile. I quickly whipped my head around to look at her and closed the box. Emily didn't seem suspicious at all, but instead was happy and smiling.

"Going through those old knick knacks?" She asked. I laughed nervously and smiled.

"Yeah, you got me thinking about them earlier," I replied as I walked towards the closet to put my box away.

"Well come on then, the food will get cold. I also brought some DVDs..." Emily trailed off as she walked out of my bedroom and back into the kitchen.

I sighed, relieved that I hadn't been caught. I pulled myself together and walked into the kitchen, noticing that Effy had dropped off my piles of clean laundry by my bedroom door. Emily handed me my usual order of chow mein, egg fried rice, and spicy orange chicken.

"You memorized my order," I said with a smile. Emily blushed.

"Maybe I did."

I smiled to myself as I ate my food. Because Emily was now one of only two people in the world who has memorized what my chinese takeaway order is.

The other person is Gina.

* * *

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